In an opinion piece from the Economic Times, Jogin Desai, founder and CEO of Eyestem, says India’s biotechnology sector is currently riding a crest of entrepreneurial success and innovation.
In the span of eight years, India’s bioeconomy vaulted from $10 billion to $80 billion, and the number of biotech startups rose from a mere 52 in 2014 to 5,300 plus in 2022.The country is the third-largest destination for biotechnology in Asia and one of the top 12 destinations for biotechnology worldwide.
In 2021, India’s biotechnology industry reached $80.12 billion, growing 14% from $70.2 billion in 2020. The target for India’s bioeconomy is to nearly double its size in three years and reach $150 billion by 2025.
All major segments of the industry, biopharmaceuticals, bio agriculture, bioindustry, bio IT, and bioservices are witnessing spectacular growth. The bioindustrial segment grew 202% in 2021 to $10.27 billion, driven by the government’s decision to focus on renewable energy. To this, biofuels contributed $5.97 billion, which is expected to increase to $20 billion by 2025, again almost three-fold in size. With India’s biosimilars gaining a foothold in developed markets such as the U.S., the biopharma sector is expected to touch $63 billion in 2022, a growth of nearly 1.4X. The bioservices and bio IT sector is predicted to grow nearly four-fold from $6.4 billion to $26.6 billion in 2025.
Despite the exponential increase in investments, the industry is far from achieving maturity. Investors are hesitant about setting foot in this domain as they are unable to envision an exit path to capital markets.
Indians are investigating and innovating in many novel and exciting areas: the production of food and materials, medical advancements, the manufacturing of diagnostic and medical devices, alternatives for petrochemical fuels, the development of generics and biosimilars, genetic modification, cell treatments, nanotechnology, and more.
