NEW DELHI: Union minister for Science and technology Kapil Sibal said the government was committed to help the biotech industry in developing new drug through public-private partnership and urged the industry to invest in drug development in a big way.
Speaking after inaugurating Bangalore Bio 2006 at the Palace Grounds here today, the minister said that 60 per cent of the country's revenue earnings came from export of bulk drugs and the services sector contributed to over 50 per cent of India's GDP.
India's low cost economy along with high quality human resource had made it a sought-after destination for clinical research outsourcing, he said.
Refuting the industry's estimation of creation of a million jobs by 2010, Sibal said that the biotech sector required capital investment for growth unlike the IT sector and companies needed to invest a greater percentage of their sales revenue in R&D.
The per capita per acre agricultural productivity was on the decline, the minister informed adding that transgenic seeds would be in sown in 3.5 million acres of agricultural land this year. Underlining the need to empower the education system, he said the government planned to establish more centers of excellence (CoEs) in the future.
Sibal also informed that the norms for biotech SEZ have also been eased. Companies with 10 hectares of land and with 400,000 sq ft of building area will be entitled to SEZ status and get all the tax and import concessions.
Karnataka chief minister, HD Kumaraswamy, who presided over the inaugural session of Bangalore Bio 2006, said biotechnology would help increase agricultural productivity
and his government would accord utmost priority to the life sciences sector.
The government would set up a venture fund for the IT and Biotechnology sectors and the State Cabinet had approved the setting up of Bangalore Helix biotechnology park on an area of 106 acres at a cost of Rs 103 crore, the chief minister informed.
Kumaraswamy urged biotech educational institutions to fine-tune their syllabus to meet the requirements of the biotech industry.
On the occasion, he released BioSpectrum's Bangalore Bio 2006 supplement.
The Bangalore Bio Cluster report points out that Bangalore is India's largest biotech cluster in the country with total annual sales revenues of Rs 1,400 crore.
There are 175 companies in Bangalore's ecosystem, comprising of biopharma, bioagri, bioinformatics, bioindustrial, biosuppliers, bioservices, and nutraceutical and herbal products companies.
In his speech, Karnataka's IT and Biotechnology secretary, Dr Anup Pujari said there was a lot of demand for clinical data generated in India. Stating that there were inadequacies in the regulatory system in India, he emphasized the need to beef up the patent infrastructure in the country.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairperson, Vision Group on Biotechnology and CMD of Biocon, informed the gathering that the turnover of the Indian biotech industry for the year ending March 31, 2006 was $1.45 billion. Karnataka-based company's export revenues stood at Rs 870 crore. As many as 28 new biotech companies had come into existence in India in 2005-06 and the headcount of scientists had gone up to 6,800, she added.
British High Commissioner to India, Sir Michael Arthur, said Britain was the third biggest inward investor in India and India was eighth in its league table of inward investors to the UK, the biotech market value of which was over $8 billion. Most of the investors were from the hi-tech sectors like IT, biotech and pharmaceuticals, the British High Commissioner added.
The UK has a strong presence in Bangalore Bio 2006 this year with a 17-member delegation of industry leaders and speakers.
The others chief guests at the inaugural session included EF Ch. Niehe, Ambassador, Royal Netherlands Embassy, Dominique Girard, Ambassador of France to India, Embassy of France and Inga Eriksson Fogh, Ambassador of Sweden to India, The Swedish Embassy.
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