BS EDIT: India’s biotech sector shows promise — but can it scale?

By Business StandardPublished On Apr 1, 2025

A sector on the rise

New policies like Bio-E3 and Bio-RIDE aim to boost India’s biotech sector beyond vaccines and pharma

Massive growth ahead

India’s bioeconomy grew from $10 billion in 2014 to $165.7 billion in 2024

Target: $300 billion by 2030

Startups are booming

Biotech startups rose from 4,237 (2020) to 10,075 (2024)

Top areas: biofuels, therapeutics, Bt cotton, bioinformatics

Greener tech, smarter trade

Biotech enables low-carbon growth. Duty cuts in 2024 eased imports of key lab chemicals

Scaling bottlenecks

Activity is concentrated in 10 states

Workforce must triple to 10 million by 2030

What’s needed next

More R&D and private investment

Single-window clearance

Push for AI-biotech, gene therapy, and synthetic biology