Union government is working to create a global technology acquisition fund to support the Indian company acquisitions abroad. Companies in India are on aggressive mode to acquire medium-sized biotech companies overseas and the government wants to assist these initiatives, stated Minister for science and technology, ocean development and earth sciences, Kapil Sibal.

The minister who was here in Bangalore to receive the BioSpectrum Biotech Leadership Award participated in a panel discussion on what should be the biotech vision for 2015 and how to navigate this path.

According to the minister current scenario of increasing the asset base of Indian companies via the forward integration route was a clear indication that foreign companies wanted to make a presence in India either by having a stake or making fresh investments in the country. The two latest instances being Mérieux Alliance picking up a 60 per cent stake in Shantha Biotechnics and Louis Pasteur to set-up a vaccine plant in India.

The science and technology minister further stated that the world is moving to India by itself and these developments would push the biotech turnover to $40 billion in 2015 from the current $1.7 billion earnings. "India is going to be the centre stage for this and the knowledge-driven economy will be a biotech-driven economy in the next decade," he averred.
Other factors, which will enable the Indian biotech sector to be on a growth trajectory mode, are the medical devices and clinical trial regulations that are being formulated by the government. It is also trying to expand the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to encourage research development. All efforts are being made to bring in a new legislation on similar lines of the Bayh-Dole Act in US which will allow one third of the value of the patent to shared equally with the individual, institute and industry.

The medical devices regulation will see sound validation systems emerge from India for imported equipment. The country already had a solid medical electronics and embedded technology knowledge pool. The availability of technical resources and cost effective parameters would drive global medical device producers to set base in India for manufacture.

In the wake of an impending manpower crisis on the anvil, the country needs to create a human resources base in the country. The government is making efforts to open up the education sector for the creation of human resources for the biotech sector. It will not only be investment in education but also in faculty training. In this connection, the department of biotechnology has already started a faculty training programme for the creation of quality human resources.

Referring to the emergence of the Special Economic Zones in the pharma biotech sector, he stated that the project would encourage foreign direct investments to pour in to take advantage of the tax incentives.

For the country to move up the value chain in biotechnology, a combination of factors like a regulations, human capital support and financial gains would be the key attractions for foreign companies to make a beeline into India and increase the biotech activity, added the minister.