Karnataka is well on its path to growing and accounting for 50% of the national bioeconomy, which is expected to cross the $100-billion mark by 2025, according to Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairperson of Biocon.
Speaking at the opening session of the State’s annual tech event — Bengaluru Tech Summit — on Thursday, she said the State’s bioeconomy is estimated to have contributed $22.6 billion to the country’s bioeconomy in 2019, accounting for 10.2% of the Gross State Domestic Product.
“This is of immense importance when compared to the valuation of the national bioeconomy, estimated at $62.5 billion at present. That means Karnataka already accounts for one-third of the national bioeconomy. We want to rapidly scale this up and aim to account for 50% of the $100-billion bioeconomy by 2025,” she said.
In her commentary on the State’s bioeconomy landscape, Ms. Mazumdar-Shaw said that Karnataka, in fact, was the first State in the country to introduce a policy on biotechnology at the turn of the millennium, when the sector was still in its infancy.
Within a span of two decades, she said, the State has emerged as the preferred destination for biotech investments in India. Today, it hosts 60% of the biotech companies in the country and employs 54% of the country’s total biotech workforce. The State is home to as many as 380 biotech companies and over 200 startups, representing 18% of the total registered biotech startups in India, she said.
