BANGALORE - India's
biotechnology industry is expected to grow by more than
40% this fiscal year to touch revenues of US$1 billion,
and the sector will witness fivefold growth to $5
billion by 2010, the Association of Biotech Led
Enterprises (ABLE) says.
"We are well on target
of [a] $1 billion biotech sector by year 2005," ABLE
president Kiran Mazumdar Shaw told reporters after
releasing the second BioSpectrum-ABLE industry survey
here on Wednesday.
Biotechnology refers to a
diverse array of traditional and new technologies that
use biological systems, living organisms or derivatives
to produce products or processes for a specific use. The
survey of 235 biotech firms estimated their revenues at
Rs32.65 billion ($705 million) during 2003-04, up from
the Rs23.45 billion earned by 150 companies in 2002-03.
Exports accounted for the major share of the
sector's revenues, constituting 56% so far in 2004, with
the domestic sector accounting for the 44% balance. The
trend is expected to continue in fiscal 2005, with
exports forming at least 60% of the total revenues.
Pune-based Serum Institute and
Bangalore-headquartered Biocon have surpassed the Rs5
billion mark in revenues, earning Rs5.55 billion and
Rs5.02 billion respectively, accounting for a third of
the industry. Panacea Biotech of Delhi stood third with
Rs1.49 billion in revenue, followed by Nicholas Piramal
of Mumbai with Rs1.3 billion and Novo Nordisk of
Bangalore with Rs1.1 billion. These top five biotech
firms accounted for 42% of the total Indian market
share.
Nearly 9,000 scientists and technologists
are directly employed by the fledgling sector, up from
6,400 in the previous fiscal year. "These are the people
who are directly involved in this sector," said Shaw.
The biotech sector attracted investment of Rs6.35
billion during 2003-04, with additional investment of
Rs10 billion expected this fiscal, he said.
Meanwhile, not to overlook India's outsourcing
clout, drug firms in the United States and Europe are
moving some of their biotech work to India. "India is
being taken seriously as a biotech outsourcing
destination," said Shaw.
US and European
companies have long been farming out software
development, engineering design and business process
outsourcing work to firms in India, attractive because
of its low wages and abundance of skilled workers.
India earns about $12.5 billion annually from
information-technology outsourcing, and revenues are
growing at 30% per year. More than half of Fortune 500
firms outsource some part of their work to India. The
practice of passing on jobs in drug-development
research, analysis of research data and clinical trials
to India is a new but growing trend, Shaw said.
Revenue from work outsourced by Western
companies accounted for more than 13% of India's
biotechnology exports of $395 million in the fiscal year
that ended March 31.
Britain's GlaxoSmithKline,
German drug maker Bayer, Aventis of France, and US-based
Pfizer Inc are some of the companies that have already
begun outsourcing work to India. "We see outsourcing in
this area growing exponentially over the next few years
and giving us the same success that India had in
software," Shaw said.
The Indian government is
to implement a new biotech policy by January. Shaw said
the N S Swaminathan Task Force and the Mashelkar Task
Force have already drafted their
recommendations.
"These recommendation are being
examined before it can be taken to the cabinet for
clearance. Stakeholders in the industry have indicated
that they are fairly satisfied with the reports as they
suggest enough measures for both agri and pharma
biotech. We expect them to be implemented soon," he
said.
The policy aims to put in place a
single-window system to handle all clearances for
biotechnology, whether for farm or medical products. It
would seek to abolish the current multi-level and
multi-ministerial clearances that research organizations
need.
"We hope to have in place a simpler
regulatory system to rapidly speed up approvals or
rejection of technologies in order to bring in
additional choices for farmers as soon as possible,"
said Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal,
speaking at a three-day conference organized by the
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Sibal told delegates at the meet that India is
also "aiming at developing a sound national
biotechnology policy that would ensure proper bio-safety
and risk assessment of all products and technologies
developed".
"We would do our best to put in
place transparent protocols and an effective
science-based decision making system to develop new age
entrepreneurs in food and feed sector," he said.
