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India’s biotech sector is working to contribute to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Viksit Bharat 2047 initiative with a roadmap by strengthening research, innovation, bio-manufacturing capabilities, advancing frontier technologies and building robust disease data base to accelerate precision and personalised medicine.
Stating that India’s biotech is already focusing on frontier technologies like AI, big data, genetic engineering and green energy solutions, Dr Vijay Chandru, founder director, Strand Life Sciences, CRISPRBITS said, “We will be able to achieve Viksit Bharat going by where we stand today.”
The biotech industry is looking at how biology, AI and bio engineering will enable a convergence and put together the country’s microbial biodiversity. From a policy point of view, there is need for a mission mode approach, added Dr Chandru at ABLE’s 7th Conclave 2025.
According to Dr Alok Srivastava, head, department of haematology, CMC Vellore, “In bio pharma, there is a big opportunity for India to showcase its cell and gene therapy capability. There is a huge medical need in this area for haematology patients. In order to speed up pace to have a clear picture of the capability in the area, we have also formed the Indian Association for Cell and Gene Therapy in the country.
In an effort to drive innovation and equitable access to healthcare, Shreehas Tambe, CEO & MD, Biocon Biologics said that biological have a superior outcome to handle cancer, diabetes and immunology diseases which is in the non-communicable disease segment accounting for 70 per cent of the global disease burden. In fact, biosimilars have provided the much-needed access for these conditions six years ago. Now there is a need to develop a strong pipeline for biologicals that can be commercialised with an integrated model. India already has a multitude of initiatives to take bio-manufacturing forward and create a talent pool for the sector.
Noting that India can become a global hub for high tech cell and gene therapy production contributing the development of the bioeconomy, Dr Sanjay Singh, MD & country head, Medtherapy Biotech, said the country has already launched two cell and gene therapy products. The current market opportunity for this is estimated at $20 billion growing exponentially. We see cell and gene therapy market exploding globally. India need to take steps to capitalise from this.
Dr Ramesh Hariharan, director and CEO, Strand Life Sciences said that personalised medicine is the way forward. There is need to create an eco-system for this. From BRCA which is a genetic test prescribed for those with family history of cancer, we now need to strengthen capabilities in biomarkers and create medical registries to aggregate patient data. This will be possible by the data driven new age lifesciences start-ups and drug discovery companies that can accelerate the pace of growth in the bioeconomy.
On a concluding note was B N Manohar, managing director, Stempeutics who said that India’s biotech sector is rapidly working together to enhance innovation, sustainability, and self-reliance in biotechnology to position itself as a global leader in bio-manufacturing, and innovation-driven growth.
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