India poised to be among the top 5 Global Bio-manufacturing Hubs by 2025, says Dr. Jitendra Singh

"By 2025, India will be among the top five global bio-manufacturing hubs," said Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh, adding that biotechnology has the potential to become a major instrument of global trade and bioeconomy contributing to India's total economy.

Dr. Jitendra Singh made the remarks while launching the website for "Global Bio-India - 2023," a huge International Biotechnology convention set to take place at Pragati Maidan from December 4th-6th, 2023.

"Today India's bioeconomy is US$ 80 Billion. and we look forward to having US$ 300 Billion by 2030", he said.

He stated that India's bio-economy has grown at a double-digit rate and is currently ranked among the top 12 biotechnology destinations in the world and that the bio-economy will be a very valuable source of livelihood in the future.

He said, “The biotechnology sector in India has evolved over the last three decades and has made significant contributions to various sectors including Health, Medicine, Agriculture, Industry, and Bio-Informatics”. Biotech StartUps are crucial to India’s future economy, he continued.

He added, “Biotech Startups have grown 100 times in the last 8 years from 52 odd startups in 2014 to 6,300+ presently. Every day 3 Biotech Start-Ups are getting incorporated in India with aspirations to provide viable technological solutions”.

According to the Union Minister, biotechnology is the technology of the future because IT has already reached its saturation point.

"India has a vast wealth of bioresources, an untapped resource waiting to be tapped, and a competitive advantage in biotechnology, owing to the vast biodiversity and unique bioresources in the Himalayas. Then there is the 7,500 km long coastline and last year we launched the Samudrayaan which is going to dig the biodiversity beneath the seas", he added.

According to Dr. Singh, there are over 3,000 Agritech Startups that are quite successful in sectors such as Aroma Mission and Lavender farming. He said, “About 4,000 people are engaged with Lavender cultivation and earning lakhs of rupees, quite a few of them do not have high qualifications, but are very innovative”.

The Department of Biotechnology has been sponsoring R&D advancements in Advanced Biofuels and "Waste to Energy" technologies. "Garbage will eventually be reduced to zero. "Everything will be recycled," he stated, citing a recycling technology developed by the Indian Institute of Petroleum (CSIR-IIP) in Dehradun by building a van that gathers waste cooking oil and converts it into biofuel.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.