Karnataka leads Indian biotech revolution

BANGALORE: Karnataka is leading the biotechnology revolution that is slowly

spreading across the country. During the last one year, 11 biotech companies

have registered in Karnataka, with a total investment of about Rs 100 crore.

There is also a great diversity in the recent crop of biotech companies that

have set up shop in the state. These findings were shared by chairperson of the

Vision Group on Biotechnology Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw during the inauguration of

Bangalore Bio 2002 on Monday. The three-day biotech event was inaugurated by

Karnataka chief minister S M Krishna.

Kiran said that a nationwide survey has been undertaken by the vision group

to study the impact of biotechnology revolution and collect statistics on this

industry for the first time. "Karnataka is the first state where the survey

has been completed and the statistics are now available," she added. In

terms of the financials, total project investment in this industry so far

(during the last ten years) has been in excess of Rs 500 crore. Total venture

capital funding in the state, which began in 2000, has touched Rs 70 crore.

These biotech companies have generated revenues worth more than Rs 700 crore, of

which Rs 250 crore came in through exports. In the near future, Rs 300 crore of

investment is expected in the state by biotech companies, both new and

established players. So far, the industry has given employment to more than 5000

people, including 3500 scientists. She informed that besides Karnataka, the

states that are promoting BT in a big way are Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu,

Gujarat, Delhi, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Kiran also pointed out that venture capital firms have invested around Rs 70

crore in the sector so far. "VCs are still not confident in investing in a

BT firm. Slowly they are looking at the growth of this industry," she

added.

While inaugurating the event, Krishna said that his government was confident

of the future of biotechnology. "There are people who say that IT and BT

are not relevant to rural India and do not agree with our encouraging these

sectors. However, I have no doubt that BT subserves the rural people of

Karnataka," he said. Rejecting the claims of a few scientists that BT

Cotton was not good for Indian farmers, Krishna cited the example of China.

"If China could reap the benefits of BT Cotton, I do not see why Indian

farmers should be deprived of such benefits," he said, adding that his

government had always reposed tremendous faith in the potential of

biotechnology.

More than 70 companies are participating in the three-day event, which will

focus on topics such as bioinformatics, nanotechnology, biotherapeutics,

biofuels and IPR.