Analytical instruments have revolutionized chemical analysis. It is innovation, ease of use combined with economies of scale. Today the prevailing trends are that chemical analysis has substituted "wet chemistry" methods. There is an increased demand for higher sensitivity and accuracy. Also there is a growing inclination for lab productivity because of automation. In many areas, the new range of analytical and life science instruments has played down operators skill requirements and errors, stated KV Venugoplan, president, Waters India.
In 2006, the global analytical and life science instrumentation market is estimated to be around $32,810 million. By 2010, it is expected to generate revenues of $41,105million and register a growth rate of 6 percent.
In India, the market is valued at $750 million and is growing at over 10 percent. The development in the sector is because of the growing number of research projects which include a thrust for contract research. From India, there is a growing interest for products in many developing countries and therefore exports are also generates a substantial portion of the business growth.
The key industrial applications for the sector are pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, agriculture, food and beverages, chemicals, polymers and petrochemicals, electronics and semiconductors, aerospace, chemical labs, contract research labs, public sectors, educational institutions - universities, colleges (medical, engineering, pharmacy, etc). Another driver is the Govt. Labs such as CSIR, ICAR, ICMR, Forensic Science, Food and Drug apart from regional and state labs.
The market comprises life science instrumentation, spectroscopy techniques, surface science mass spectrometry and separation technology.
The novel analytical and lab instrumentation technologies are separation, high performance liquid chromatography - HPLC, Layer Chromatography, Gas Chromatography, Ion Chromatography, Low Pressure Liquid Chromatography, Flash Chromatograph and Capillary Electrophoresis.
The lab functions are research and development, method development QA/QC and process control, general analytical services, environmental testing and academic/ teaching/ research.
Among the leading instrumentation global majors are Applera Corp, Thermo Electron, Agilent Technologies, Waters Corporation, Perkin Elmer, Shimadzu, GE Healthcare, Bruker Group,Beckman Coulter and Varian.
Top 10 Instrument vendors in India are Waters, Thermo Electron, Lab India, Spinco Biotech, Becton Dickinson, Agilent Technologies, Shimadzu Analytical, Millipore, Sartorius and GE Healthcare.
Research and development institutes generate 43 percent of the total business of the analytical market. This is followed by analytical services 24 percent, quality assurance and quality control 20 percent. In India with the patent regime, there has a profile growth of the research and development activities. Companies like Cipla, Micro Labs, Nicholas Piramal, Biocon, Orchid, Strides Arcolab to name a few are developing knowledge-intensive businesses as drivers of future growth.
The focus on R&D as a key value driver has further strengthened the overall business and growth horizon these companies. From new chemical entity (NCE) development, novel drug delivery systems (NDDS) development, custom synthesis and R&D services have created a huge demand for analytical instruments, stated VR Kannan, pharma consultant.