India, March 11 -- The Government of India has issued a release:
The BioE3 Policy (Biotechnology for Environment, Economy & Employment), approved by the Cabinet, is being implemented jointly by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and its Public Sector Enterprise, the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) for fostering high-performance Biomanufacturing and enabling start-ups, SMEs, industries and academia with access to shared infrastructure/facilities and resources for pilot & pre-commercial scale biomanufacturing of viable commercial bio-based products.
Bio-enablers (Biofoundries & Biomanufacturing Hubs and Bio-AI Hubs) augment discovery and translational research across the sectorial verticals:
DBT-BIRAC has launched India's first Biofoundry Network at 8 academic institutions, marking a landmark initiative aimed at transforming the country's biotechnology landscape and achieving a $300 billion bioeconomy by 2030. The network serves as a national platform to support bioproduction scale-up at academia.
Further, 11 cutting-edge Biomanufacturing Platforms have been set up at industry across India, offering shared infrastructure to start-ups, SMEs, industries, and academic institutions. These centers are supporting pilot and pre-commercial scale up of technologies across diverse sectors, including microbial biomanufacturing, sustainable agriculture, smart proteins, functional foods, precision biotherapeutics, marine biotechnology, carbon capture, and next-generation cell and gene therapies.
The Biofoundry Network and Biomanufacturing platforms are expected to play a pivotal role in India's transition to clean and green technologies, reduce import dependence, and establish the country as a frontrunner in the global Bioeconomy impacting health, agriculture, food, energy, and environment.
The details of the projects are at Annexure I.
The BIRAC was set up by the DBT in 2012 and is playing a key role in strengthening R&D, startup creation, indigenous manufacturing, and providing global competitiveness to India's biotechnology sector. BIRAC provides a structured continuum of support from idea to commercialization. Details of various programs of BIRAC and their impact are as follows:
Collectively, these initiatives strengthen India's biotechnology innovation ecosystem by promoting indigenous R&D, facilitating technology translation, enabling manufacturing scale-up to international standards, attracting private investment, and supporting the growth of globally competitive biotech startups.
A total of 94 biotechnology incubation and pre-incubation centres have been set up by BIRAC across 25 states & UTs of the country under the following 2 schemes:
These Bioincubators are located within Universities, Research Institutes, Research Hospitals, or as stand-alone centres and provide comprehensive support to entrepreneurs and startups across various life sciences domains, including healthcare, agriculture, and environmental solutions.
Through the BioNEST and E-YUVA schemes, BIRAC has supported around 3000 + startups, entrepreneurs and students.
To address funding gaps and commercialization challenges:
In addition, BIRAC facilitates investor connect platforms, industry linkages, regulatory guidance support, and incubation through BioNEST centres to improve access to capital, streamline regulatory pathways, and enhance market readiness.
To strengthen India's regulatory and policy milieu, BIRAC has created a dedicated Regulatory Affairs & Policy Advocacy (RAPA) unit which drives innovation through navigation of regulatory complexities, harmonisation of global regulations, and advocates for policies that catalyse the growth of start-ups, SMEs, and entrepreneurs. Key initiatives undertaken by RAPA to address major challenges faced by biotech startups are as follows:
The Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) tracks programme-level outcomes to assess longitudinal impact, including employment generation, follow-on funding mobilization, intellectual property creation, valuation growth, and startup progression across funding stages.
As per the India BioEconomy Report 2025 (IBER 2025), the biotechnology sector in India has generated approximately 3.5 million jobs and has over 10,000 cumulative biotechnology startups in the country. The report also tracks the growth trajectory of the sector over time, thereby providing longitudinal insights into the expansion of the biotech startup ecosystem.
This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent charge) for the Ministry of Science and Technology & Earth Sciences Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
