Industries:
Biotechnology
Biotechnology has been globally recognised as a rapidly emerging and far reaching technology.
It is a FRONTLINE area of science which plays a key role in the growth and development of a
nation. It refers to any technological application that uses biological forms and systems, in a
controllable manner, in order to produce new and useful products or processes as well as modify
the existing ones. It seeks to provide benefit not only to mankind, but also to other life forms,
such as micro-organisms. It also helps to maintain an optimum ecological balance in the
environment by reducing harmful hydrocarbons, controlling pollution, etc.
In India, the biotechnology is among the fastest growing knowledge based sectors. It has been
considered as a powerful enabling technology that can revolutionize agriculture, healthcare,
industrial processing and environmental sustainability. Nowadays, it is increasingly being used
to develop and design uniquely improved varieties of crops, new pharmaceutical products,
plethora of chemicals, cosmetics, fertilizers, growth enhancers, processed foods, HEALTH
CARE AIDS and environment-related substances, etc. Indian biotech segment has been making
rapid strides on the global platform. There are large number of therapeutic biotech drugs and
vaccines, being currently produced and marketed in the country and helping mankind
enormously. The sector registered a revenue of $ 1.07 billion and recorded a 36.55 per cent
growth in the year 2005-06.
India has been reorganized as a mega bio-diversity country. The biotechnology offers avenues to
convert country's diverse biological resources into economic wealth and employment
opportunities. There are several factors that create the impetus for India to develop exceptional
capabilities in the realm of biotechnology. They are:- large reservoir of scientific HUMAN
RESOURCE , that is, a strong pool of scientists and engineers; cost effective manufacturing
capabilities; number of national research laboratories employing thousands of scientists; centers
of academic excellence in biosciences; several medical colleges, educational and training
institutes offering degrees and diplomas in biotechnology, bio-informatics and biological
sciences; vibrant drugs and pharmaceutical industry; as well as fast developing clinical
capabilities.
In India, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), under the Ministry of Science and Technology,
is an apex authority for the development of biotechnology sector. It has been set up for the
purpose of planning, promoting and coordinating various biotechnological PROGRAMMES
and activities in the country. It is the nodal agency for providing grant-in-aid support to national
research laboratories, universities and research foundations for biotechnology related activities in
different sectors like health care, agriculture, environment and industry. The main
responsibilities of the Department are to:-
PROMOTE large scale use of biotechnology
Identify and set up centres of excellence for R&D in biotechnology and related
manufacturing fields
Establish infrastructure facilities to support R&D and production
ACT as an agent of the Government for import of new recombinant DNA based
biotechnological processes, products and technology
Evolve bio-safety guidelines for laboratory research, production and APPLICATIONS
Initiate scientific and technical efforts related to biotechnology
Develop integrated programmes for HUMAN RESOURCE development
Promote international collaborations for expanding KNOWLEDGE BASE of biotech
sector
Serve as a nodal agency for collection and dissemination of information relating to
biotechnology.
The Department has eight autonomous institutions mandated to work on various aspects
ofMEDICAL , agriculture and industrial biotechnology. These are:-
National Institutute of Immunology, New Delhi
National Centre for Cell Science, Pune
Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad
National Brain Research Centre, Manesar, Haryana
National Centre for Plant Genome Research, New Delhi
Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development, Imphal
Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneshwar
While, the public sector undertakings in the Department, working for the development of biotech
sector, are:-
Bharat Immunologicals and Biologicals Corporation Limited, Bulandshahar
Indian Vaccines Corporation limited, Gurgaon
Further, the 'National Bio-Resource Development Board (NBDB)' has been set up under the
Department, in order to decide the broad policy framework for effective application of
biotechnological and related scientific approaches for research and development as well as
sustainable utilization of bioresources, especially for development of new products and
processes. The Board seeks to develop a scientific plan of action for contributing to the economic
prosperity of the nation through accelerated research and development using the modern tools of
biosciences. A National Steering Committee has been constituted to support the activities of the
board. In its first meeting held in January 2000, NBDB has identified three priority areas, such
as:- (i) preparation of digitised inventories of plant, animal, microbial, and marine resources; (ii)
R&D projects, programme support, establishment of centres of excellence, training activities and
demonstrations, for the development of bioresources for special areas such as north-eastern
region, Himalayan region, coastal and island ecosystems, desert region, Indo-Gangetic Plain and
Peninsular India; and (iii) knowledge empowerment and HUMAN RESOURCE development.
The other important functions of the board are to:-
Evolve effective ex-situ conservation STRATEGIES for bioresources of
potential scientific and economic value
Develop predictive groupings of biological resources through well-established
molecular lineages
Construct gene maps of bioresources that can be used for locating useful genes
Promote the use of biological software in the management of agricultural pests
and pathogens
Promote value addition to bioresources and strengthen bioinformatics
Train HUMAN RESOURCE for the achievement of all such objectives.
The Department has been making significant achievements in the growth and application of
biotechnology in the broad areas of:- (i) agriculture, in the form of increased agricultural
productivity; development of disease, drought and pest resistant varieties; production of high
yielding varieties of transgenic organisms (plants and animals); development of hybrid seeds,
synthetic/ artificial seeds and genetically engineered crops; improvement in food security by
raising crop tolerance to adverse weather and soil conditions; etc. (ii) health care, in the form of
manufacturing of safe and cost-effective vaccines; development of bio diagnostic kits to ensure
early detection of various diseases; production of various therapeutic proteins; use of DNA
fingerprinting; etc. (iii) industry, in the form of preparation of various acids and ALCOHOLS ;
production of vitamins, antibiotics, steroids, number of pharmaceutical drugs and chemicals ;
prevention of industrial products from spoilage; etc. (iv) environment and energy, in the form of
pollution control; conversion of bio-degradable waste completely into energy like bio-gas fuel;
restoration of degraded lands; development of biosensors for detection of pollutants; treatment of
industrial effluents; etc.
In order to supplement such efforts and to attract large INVESTMENTS into the biotech sector,
the Department has been undertaking several policy initiatives and measures from time to time.
The most important being, the announcement of 'National Biotechnology Development Strategy'
as a overall policy framework in order to boost the biotech industry. It takes stock of what has
been accomplished and provides a set up for future, within which strategies and specific actions
need to be taken to promote the sector. This policy aims to chalk out the path of progress in areas
such as agriculture and food biotechnology, industrial biotechnology, therapeutic and medical
biotechnology, regenerative and genomic medicine, diagnostic biotechnology, bio-engineering,
nano-biotechnology, bio-informatics and IT enabled biotechnology, clinical biotechnology,
manufacturing and bio-processing, research services, bio-resources, environment and intellectual
property law.The main objectives of this policy framework are to:- (i) set out the direction for
strengthening India’s academic and industrial biotech research capabilities; (ii) work with
business houses, Government and academia to move biotechnology from research to
commercialisation; (iii) foster India’s overall industrial development; (iv) inform people about
the science, applications, benefits and issues of biotechnology; (v) enhance the teaching and
workforce training capabilities for the growth of biotech; (vi) establish India as a preeminent
international location for biotechnology. In other words, it focuses on issues like human resource
development, academic and industry interface, infrastructure development, lab and
manufacturing, promotion of industry and TRADE , biotechnology parks and incubators,
regulatory mechanisms, public education and awareness building.
The setting up of biotech parks and biotech incubators centres as well as training and pilot
projects in various States and organizations provide an excellent template for promotion of
biotech START UP companies. Under this, there are schemes of providing financial/logistical
support to those young entrepreneurs who are not in a position to incur high capital expenditure
in the biotech industry, but have the capabilities to develop, design and perfect new biotech
products and processes by utilizing the biotech incubators and pilot level facilities. Some of the
existing biotech parks/incubation centres and pilot projects are:-
Biotech Park at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
Biotechnology Incubation Centre, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
Biotechnology Incubation Centre/Pilot plant facilities at Kerala
Biotechnology Incubation Centre/Pilot plant facilities at Himachal Pradesh
Biotechnology Park/ Incubation Centre and Common Instrumentation Facility at
Bangalore
Besides, the Guidelines for 'Stem Cell Research and Therapy' have been formulated in order to
provide a mechanism to ensure that research with human stem cells is conducted in a responsible
and ethically sensitive manner and complies with all regulatory requirements pertaining to
biomedical research in general and STEM CELL research in particular. These guidelines aims
to:- (i) lay down general principles for stem cell research and therapy keeping in view the ethical
issues. (ii) formulate specific guidelines for derivation, propagation, differentiation,
characterization, banking, and use of human stem cells for research and therapy.
Further, India has been the first country in the world to establish in 1987, aBiotechnology
Information System (BTIS) network in order to create an infrastructure that enables it to provide
support to biotechnology sector through the application of Bioinformatics. IT HELPS to create
human resources in bioinformatics and carry out research in its different areas. Following are the
major thrusts of the programme are to:-
Undertake advanced research in frontier areas of bioinformatics and
computational biology
Develop world class HUMAN RESOURCE in bioinformatics
Establish effective academia-industry interface
Pursue and PROMOTE international cooperation with leading institutions,
organizations and countries in the world
Create world-class PLATFORMS for technology development, transfer and
commercialisation
Fifty-two Bioinformatics Facilities (BIF) have been established towards introducing innovation
in Biology Teaching through BioInformatics (BTBI). These facilities ACT as a centralized
resource of individual institutions to support bioinformatics tools.
International collaborations in biotechnology have also been a major strength of the Department
of Biotechnology, with an increasing number of countries renewing their interest in collaboration
with India. These are being pursued as an important vehicle for expanding the KNOWLEDGE
BASE and developing expertise which would accelerate the pace of growth in R&D in the
country. In the recent times, there has been a steady progress in international collaboration in
biotechnology resulting in many important research projects, products and technologies. Some of
them are:- Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) have been signed with Denmark and Finland
and joint call for proposals have been issued; Joint projects have also been funded with the
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), UK; Department has signed
two memoranda with Agriculture and Agri-Food, Canada and the National Research Centre,
Canada, respectively; New agreements on vision research with NIH, USA and an amendment to
the agreement with Contraceptive Research and Development Programme (CONRAD), USA
have also been signed; etc.
As a result of all these, India has been emerging as a biotechnology hub on a world map and is
being looked upon as a preferred investment destination. Advances in molecular biology and
biotechnology has led to an overwhelming impact on the economic well being of the society. The
Indian biotechnology sector is gaining global visibility for emergingBUSINESS
OPPORTUNITIES and holds great promise in meeting the needs of the growing population for
innovative medicines, higher productivity in agriculture and value addition including nutritional
enhancement and protection of environment. However, there are several social concerns that
need to be addressed in order to propel the emergence of biotechnology innovation in the
country, such as conserving bioresources and ensuring safety of products and processes, etc.
Accordingly, both the Government and the private sector have to play an important role in
educating and protecting the interests of the masses as well as advancing the benefits of modern
biotechnology to them.
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Related Links:
Department of Biotechnology (DBT)
Areas of Research
Biotech Product and Process Development
Human Resource Development
National Jai Vigyan S&T Mission
Biotech News
