Despite the Budget 2006 proving to be a disappointment as far as direct incentives to the biotechnology industry is concerned, the recent trend of high economic growth combined with the potential growth opportunities augured well for the future of this sector, said Dr. K K Narayanan new chief of the Association of Biotechnology Led Entrepreneurs (ABLE).

On the factors responsible to make India a favourable destination for foreign companies to set base here for biotech initiatives, Dr. Narayanan said, "Since modern biotechnology is science-intensive, the key factors that would attract global companies set base here would be the low cost of innovation along with availability of quality of scientific personnel." Promoting responsible biotechnology and facilitating the growth of the biotech industry in this country would be his priorities, he said.

On March 9, 2006 ABLE announced the constitution of its newly elected Executive Council with Dr. Narayanan elected as the second president, the earlier being Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director, Biocon Limited.

Dr. Narayanan, who is the managing director of Metahelix Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd., leads the product development and the plant functional Genomics. He attributes Intellectual Property Protection, availability of trained manpower, adequate investments, progressive policies and regulations as the key drivers of the biotech sector.

For the new ABLE, both agri and pharma biotechnology would be the focus areas despite the fact that he heads an agri biotech initiative Metahelix and his earlier stint at Monsanto.