$80 Billion- India’s ‘Bio-economy’

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What has happened?

India’s bio-economy has grown 8 times in the past 8 years rising from $10 billion in 2014 to $80 billion in 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while inaugurating the first-ever Biotech Start-up Expo on Thursday.
The expo is being organised by the Department of Biotechnology and Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).
The government believes promoting innovation in the sector will reap incremental benefits and push the country towards self-sufficiency.

Biotechnology is a broad range of technologies that employ living organisms or parts of them to make diverse products.
For example, drugs and therapeutics, nutritional compounds, environmentally friendly chemicals and materials, biofuels, and novel functional materials can be produced through biotechnology.
Path breaking contributions of biotechnology

The word biotechnology was used first in 1919 by Karl Ereky.
It means products are produced from raw materials with the support of living organisms.
More broadly, medical biotechnology, agricultural biotechnology and industrial biotechnology will all play increasingly important roles in our everyday life.
Biotechnology can also be employed to degrade toxic or harmful chemicals and agents to solve environmental problems.

Biotechnology could help address many global problems, such as climate change, an aging society, food security, energy security and infectious diseases, to name just a few.
Just like other emerging technologies, we cannot predict with absolute certainty the risks with biotechnology.
For example, synthetic biology is already contributing very much to the development of many biological systems producing drugs, chemicals and fuels without using fossil resources.
However, if misused, synthetic biology can generate biological and chemical materials that are harmful to human beings as well as the

“The rise in India’s bio-economy is not incidental.
It is because of India’s diverse population, deep human and capital pool, focus on ease of doing business, growing demand for bio products and the successful track record of the
sector till now,” Modi said.
Trust in the skill of India’s information technology professionals is at an all-time high globally, he said.
Since the Covid pandemic began, the government has stressed the need for having a robust domestic biotech sector as a bulwark against geo-economic disruptions.
Modi said the number of steps being taken for the development of the biotech sector in India was unprecedented.
“In the past 8 years, the number of startups has risen from a hundred to 70,000 startups.
These are divided among 60 different sectors but important to note that every 14th startup (5300) belongs in the biotech sector,” the Prime Minister said.
Of these, as many as 1,100 bio tech startups were created only last year, he added.
“Similarly, just 8 years back, the number of biotech products was limited to 10, but now the number has grown to more than 700,” he said.
The number of investors in biotech startups has risen by 9 times, while the total funding has risen by 7 times, the PM said.

Since the sector is majorly demand-driven, Modi said that a large consumer base is set to be created for the myriad industries within the biotech sector in the coming years.
This would include bio-fertilizers, bio-fortified seeds, biofuels, vaccines, and organic products, he argued.
“India has already achieved 10 percent ethanol blending target for petrol. The deadline for achieving the target of 20% blending has also been reduced from 2030 earlier to 2025 now,” the PM said.
To aid the growth in demand, a holistic environment for innovation and research and development is being created, Modi said.
“A large number of new interfaces are being created. Apart from the overall Startup India exercise, the government has created multiple initiatives for startups operating in the defense, space, and semiconductors,” he said.

The Expo will act as a platform to connect entrepreneurs, investors, industry leaders, scientists, researchers, bio-incubators, manufacturers, regulators and government officials.
About 300 stalls has been set up at the Expo, which will showcase the applications of biotechnology in various fields such as- Healthcare, genomics, biopharma, agriculture, industrial biotechnology, waste-to-value, clean energy, among others.

Q) The first transgenic plant to be produced is?