Bangalore, June 7, 2007: The seventh edition of India's premier biotech show Bangalore BIO opened today in Bangalore. Themed "Think Big Think Innovation" the event this year has scaled up and has attracted over 600 delegates from across 15 countries.

 

This is a reflection of the fact that the biotech industry in India has achieved critical mass clocking $2 billion in turnover, which is a 30 percent growth over last year.

 

"The industry is in the throes of a positive change," stated Dr Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairperson of the Vision Group on Biotechnology.  Dr Shaw also heads India's largest biotechnology group Biocon. She delineated the findings of the fifth annual BioSpectrum-ABLE Survey of the biotech industry in India. The growth is being led by the biopharma segment which makes up for the $1.4 billion in the total turnover.

 

According to Dr Shaw, the challenge for India now lies in enabling companies to move from innovation to pre-clinical stage and getting VCs to back innovation, apart from developing specialized human resource. Dr Shaw proposed that an Indian Institute of Biotechnology modeled after the country's famed IITs be established. At the inaugural function, the Government of Karnataka in collaboration with the Deakin University of Australia announced an Indian Research Institute to help build high-end skill for the biotechnology sector. 

 

Indian biotech industry is pretty much on track to achieve $5 billion turnover by 2010. And the Indian state of Karnataka, home to 55 percent of the Indian biotech sector, is ahead of the rest of the country.

 

However, to give a further push to the industry Dr Shaw made a case for Software Technology Parks of India (STPIs) model to be implemented in the biotech sector. She exhorted the country's Union Minister of Finance, Mr P Chidambaram, who was the guest of honor at the inauguration, to look into the proposal.

 

Another issue that continues to be a bottleneck for the industry in India is the lack of early stage funding, which Mr Chidambaram stated has been addressed to a large extent by amending the tax law giving concessions to VCs for high risk business investments.

 

However, the highlight of the Bangalore BIO 2007 show is the Australian delegation from the State of Victoria. The delegation on its first visit to India is exploring the partnership possibilities with Indian companies in various therapeutic areas.