STATE TIMES NEWS
KATRA: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said, India’s bio-economy has grown 8 times in the last 8 over years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, from $10 billion in 2014 to over $80 billion in 2022.
Delivering inaugural address at the 3-day “International Conference on Emerging Trends in Biotechnology/Biosciences and Chemical Technology- 2022” here today, Dr Jitendra Singh said, Biotech Startups have grown 100 times in the last 8 years from 52 odd Startups in 2014 to 5300 plus in 2022. He said, 3 Biotech Startups were incorporated every day in 2021 and a total of 1,128 biotech startups were set up in 2021 alone, signaling the rapid growth of the sector in India.
The conference is being organized by Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, School of Biotechnology, Jammu in collaboration with CSIR-IIIM Jammu and The Biotech Research Society of India, from 3rd – 5th December 2022.
There are 14 international participants like USA, Greece, South Korea, Scotland, Singapore, Thailand, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Malaysia and Vietnam and 24 National keynote and invited speakers and around 300 participants from almost every state of India who are presenting their work in the form of Oral and Poster Presentations.
Dr Jitendra Singh pointed out that from a paltry investment of Rs 10 Crore in Bio-economy in 2014, the fund growth saw 400 times hike to Rs 4200 crore in 2022, creating over 25,000 high skilled jobs. He said, the number of Bio tech incubators have increased from 6 in 2014 to 75 now, while Biotech products have increased from 10 products to more than 700 today. Dwelling on the growth of India Bioeconomy, Dr Jitendra Singh pointed out that India administered nearly 4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines per day and a total of 1.45 billion doses in 2021. Similarly, we conducted 1.3 million COVID-19 tests each day in 2021 and overall 507 million tests in 2021. Dr Jitendra Singh also pointed out that the Biotech industry crossed one-billion-dollar R&D spend, thanks to Covid economy and it almost trebled within a year from 320 million dollars in 2020 to 1,02 billion dollars in 2021. The Minister said, India will soon enter the league of top-5 countries in Biotech’s global ecosystem. Dr Jitendra Singh quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to point out the five big reasons why India is being considered a land of opportunities in the field of biotech. First- diverse population and diverse climatic zones. Second, India’s talented human capital pool, Third, increasing efforts for ease of doing business in India. Fourth, the demand for Bio-Products is increasing continuously in India and fifth- India’s Biotech Sector and its track record of success.
Referring to the growing reputation and profile of Indian professionals on the global stage, Dr Jitendra Singh said, there is growing trust in the skill and innovation of Indian IT professionals in the World and in this Bio-economy decade, the same will be true for the Bio Professionals of India.
Scientific sessions of the conference have been divided under different themes on Health Sciences, Enzymology and Molecular biology, Synthetic Biology, Material Science and Nanomaterial, Natural Products and Green Chemistry, Environmental Sustainability and Development and Plant & Animal Science.
Noted participants included Prof. R K Sinha, Vice Chancellor, SMVDU, Director CSIR-IIIM Jammu, Prof. Ashok Pandey, Distinguished Scientist, Centre for Innovation & Translational Research, CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research Lucknow and Dr. Ratna Chandra, Head, School of Biotechnology, SMVDU.