Pandemic, Aatmanirbhar Bharat & Innovation: Finally cheering moment for Biotechnology in India

 

Pandemic, Aatmanirbhar Bharat & Innovation:

Finally cheering moment for Biotechnology in India

-Shantanu Chakraborty

In the mid-1960s when Green Revolution started in India, Dr. Norman Borlaug an Agronomist altered the genetic information of seeds and developed a semi-dwarf, high yield, disease-resistant variety of seeds for which he is now known as the Father of the Green Revolution. His efforts saved billions of people across the globe, on one hand where Mexico became a net exporter of crops from the importer; India and Pakistan on the other became self-sufficient to feed their people and save them from starvation.

The Developing world has also been a critic of genetically modified crops for which the kind of innovation and development we were expecting by 2020, we are not even close to that. Even Borlaug faced harsh criticism of similar patterns, but not only he was able to convince them, but his technique also gave the idea of innovation for food security special among developing countries.

Due to such staunch criticism in India, even after being an Agriculture based economy where more than 50% of India's population depends on Agriculture for bread and butter, India's performance compared to China is not encouraging at all. The use of modern techniques and innovation in the entire food production and supply system made China the World's largest producer of vegetables and various other food items.

But with time, Nature might be telling us what we ignored for the past many decades. With a jolting blow of the Covid19 pandemic on both macroscopic and microscopic levels, both Govts and scientific communities are getting on the same page to use modern and innovative techniques to satisfy the global demand for food at an affordable price.

INDIA & BIOTECHNOLOGY

India today is among the top 12 destinations for Biotechnology in the World with a global share of 3% in the Biotechnology industry and a contributor of 70% of WHO's vaccines. 

Apart from 9 Biotech parks, 4 Biotech science clusters, 50 Bio incubators; India has the largest no. of US FDA-approved manufacturing sites. 

India is also one of the first countries to constitute a dedicated department of Biotechnology, which has established BIRAC (Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council), a not-for-profit agency to support Biotechnology enterprises to undertake research and innovation.

from investindia.gov.in

AATMANIRBHAR BHARAT

Now, Let's be real, no matter how much we had talked about Biotechnology in the past, there was not much development. In India, the industry sector is also judged by the number of employment it can create, without much support from the Govt, sectors be it Airline, Pharmaceutical or Biotechnology perishes.

With PM Modi's launch of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Mission, Govt took various steps to stabilize the growth of the Biotech industry, which is now having a good scope of employment. The Indian Biotechnology industry is expected to have a value of 150 Billion Dollars by 2025, which is currently valued at 62 billion dollars. Govt of India has allowed

• 100 % FDI for greenfield pharma under Automatic route

• 100% FDI for brownfield pharma wherein 74% FDI is under automatic route and beyond it on Govt approval.

• 100% FDI for manufacturing of medical devices under the automatic route.

With keeping high targets, Govt has initiated more than 15 projects across various states from Sikkim to Kerala, with Millions of dollars of investment from Global companies like Astrazenekca, BAYER, Bharat Biotech, Biocon GSK, Jubilant, and many more. 

We sincerely hope that the Biotech boom we all were expecting, is now here. 

Note: The data used here are as per the various reports published by various private and Govt. institutions.