State to push for investments in biopharma & medical devices

IT/BT Minister at ‘Bioeconomy 2025 and Beyond’

Bengaluru, March 22: The state government plans to tap the Central government’s Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme to aggressively push for investments in the biopharmaceuticals and medical devices sector, Dr.C.N.Ashwatha Narayana, Minister for IT/BT and S&T, said on Tuesday.

Participating in the ‘Bioeconomy 2025 and Beyond’ programme organised by ABLE (Association of Bioeconomy led enterprises), he told, BioEconomy of the State which is currently valued at US$ 24.4 billion contributing 33% of the national share is on course to achieve USD$ 50 billion BioEconomy value by 2025.

The bio-industrial segment comprising bio-renewables, bioenergy, biofuels, and green chemicals is expected to be the next big segment that can drive future growth. This segment has the potential to increase by 4 fold in its contribution to the bio-economy of the state from USD$1-2 billion to USD$6-7 billion, he explained.

“The State government plans to attract investments in bio-agriculture (agriculture and animal husbandry) and bio-industrial (enzymes, biofuels, biomass, and green chemicals) industries as well to increase the share of bio-economy. Research and development services, marine biotech and BioIT and informatics services will be the focus areas for the state of Karnataka over the new few years.” Narayana explained.

Saying, Karnataka is the third-largest producer of biofuels and among the states which have reached 9 percent blending of petrol in 2021, he added that the state’s Biotech industry crossed USD$180 million in R&D Spend. A total of 95 biotech start-ups were set up in Karnataka in 2021, averaging almost 8 start-ups every month, Minister stated.

Karnataka has emerged as the preferred destination for biotech investments in India. At present, the state hosts about 60% of the biotech companies in the country and employs about 54% of the country’s total biotech workforce, he informed. Further, he added, the state provided nearly 2.3 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccines per day totaling 86.4 million doses given in 2021, and Karnataka’s biotechnology industry has been at the forefront of fighting the pandemic by developing and deploying a variety of anti-virals, diagnostic tests, and administering vaccines.

E.S.Krishnan, Executive Chairman, ABLE, Kiran Majumdar Shaw, Chairperson, State Vision Group for Biotech, E.V.Ramana Reddy, ACS, Department of IT/BT, and others were present.

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