• India targets a $300B bioeconomy by 2030, with biotech startups surging across healthcare, agriculture, and synthetic biology.
• Minister Jitendra Singh highlights early industry collaborations, VC engagement, and supportive policies as key growth enablers.
• Government initiatives like BIRAC continue to fund and incubate innovations, positioning India as a global biotechnology leader.

India is fast-tracking its drive to be a biotechnology superpower of the world, as the government targets developing a $300 billion bioeconomy by 2030. Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh pointed out the spurt in the growth of the nation's biotech industry, flagging a substantial increase in the number of startups while underscoring the need for early industry collaborations and strong financial backing to fuel more innovation.

Talking of the direction of the sector, the minister focused on the fact that the biotechnology ecosystem of India has grown exponentially over the last decade, making the nation a credible contender in the life sciences world globally. The government, he added, is committed to reinforcing this momentum with planned initiatives, supportive policies, and investment in infrastructure as well as research. Singh emphasized that building strong interfaces among academia, industry, and government will be the growth enablers for the sector to realize its true potential and provide solutions in healthcare, agriculture, and industrial biotech.

The minister also emphasized the importance of early-stage interaction with private players, especially venture capital and global life science companies, to drive growth in homegrown biotech start-ups. Financial support and exposure to cutting-edge technologies, Singh said, are needed for startups to grow and take disruptive innovations to the market. He further added that the government would remain in an enabling role facilitating access to funding, expediting regulatory mechanisms, and developing talent through specialist training and education programs.

India's biotechnology industry has witnessed tremendous growth in entrepreneurial activity with thousands of startups over the past few years across fields such as vaccine development, diagnostics, bio-manufacturing, and synthetic biology. The growth has been helped by the country's programs including the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), which incubated and funded many ventures.

With the bioeconomy set to make a big contribution to India's GDP in the coming years, the government's new interest in the sector is a long-term vision of using science and innovation to drive sustainable economic growth. With ever-growing global demand for biotech solutions, India is set to become a hub of innovation as well as a world manufacturing base.