Indian biotech industry revenue has crossed the $4-billion mark this year. The sector grew at 18.5 per cent to touch Rs 20,440.70 crore.
For the first time, domestic revenue (Rs 10,599 crore) have overtaken export revenue (Rs 9,842 crore).
Last year (2011), the sector grew 21.50 per cent with revenues touching Rs 18,400 crore. Exports stood at Rs 8,852 crore and domestic revenue was Rs 8,397 crore, said Bio-spectrum-ABLE Biotech Industry Survey 2012.
“The Indian biotech industry’s growth story which was propelled by vaccines has now got additional impetus through bio-similars,” said Utkarsh Palnitkar, executive director, Centrum Capital.
The bio-pharma segment with revenues of Rs 12,679 crore continues to maintain dominance, followed by the bio-services Rs 3,749 crore, bio-industrial segment Rs 696 crore and bio-informatics Rs 266 crore.
The bio-agri segment revenues stood at Rs 3,050 crore has registered the fastest growth rate, surging from 5 per cent market share five years ago to over 14 per cent.
“This is mainly due to Bt cotton, the area under which increased to 9.4 million hectare with production estimated to be 29.5 million bales,” explained Biospectrum-ABLE study.
South dominates
The southern region (Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu) dominates the industry followed by western region (Gujarat and Maharashtra) and northern region (Delhi, Haryana).
The following are the winners of BioSpectrum Awards, selected for their contributions to the sector: Lifetime Achievement Award: Dr S Natesh, former senior advisor, Union Department of Biotech, Person of the Year: Dr Renu Swarup, MD, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), Entrepreneur of the Year: Shrikumar Suryanarayanan, Chairman, Sea6Energy. Product of the Year: Jeev Vaccine - developed by Biological E. Serum Institute of India bagged BioPharma Company of the Year, Novozymes South Asia - BioIndustrial Company of the Year, Quintiles India - BioServices Company of the Year, Nuziveedu Seeds - BioAgri Company of the Year, Strand Life Sciences - BioInformatics Company of the Year and Thermo Fischer Scientific India - Technology Provider of the Year.
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