The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has called for time bound programmes to have in place sufficient trained technicians with excellent laboratory skills for the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. It called for a reorientation of the training programmes and advocated for the "German model" of producing technicians. CII has also suggested two-dimensional organisation in institutions for training scientists/researchers, physiology, with biotechnology function.

In its comments on the Draft National Biotech Development Strategy, the CII said that the draft policy would go a long way in providing direction and enable actions by various stakeholders to achieve the full potential of this vibrant sector. "The policy would entail the sector to move from limited successes to being one of the important global players. It would also help in attracting both domestic and foreign investment in the Biotech sector,” CII feels.

A press release issued by CII has said that the Draft National Biotech Development Strategy would provide a roadmap to achieve an annual turnover of US$ 5 billion by 2010, as a realistic goal, and would help in creating more jobs across India.

CII has particularly welcomed the thrust on education and training and said that the proposal to set up a National Task Force would help in formulating model undergraduate and postgraduate curriculum in life sciences and biotechnology for future needs. Focus on creating Science and Technology leaders for the industry by increasing the number of PhD Fellowships offered by DBT to 200 per annum was also laudable. However, according to CII, few additional points could be considered to make the thrust on education and training more effective.

According to CII, the Draft National Biotech Development Strategy would also encourage 'public-private' partnership in PhD programme through creation of 'Bio-Edu-Grid', a network of universities and industries facilitating pooling of resources. This has been one of the key demands of CII for a long time.

CII has also emphasised on capacity building by scaling up infrastructure of the biotech institutions and enhancing the breadth and depth of life sciences at the graduation level. It has also called for more exposure to diverse topics in MSc Biotechnology courses than limiting to tissue culture.

To make the Draft National Biotechnology Development Strategy comprehensive, CII has recommended accreditation of education in Biotechnology, to minimise the threat posed due to fly by night operators by putting in various measures including a strong accreditation system. CII has said that it would be imperative to encourage Internationally Accredited Agencies to come forward and promote knowledge sharing.

For research and development, CII has recommended a three-way cooperation among the entrepreneur, government and risk assessors (venture capital/banks) for enhanced and better utilisation of funding for R&D. CII has also called for enhanced focus on marine biotechnology and research in agri-biotechnology.

CII has said that there is a need to create a task force on harmonisation of laws to ensure a world-class regulatory and patent regime. Added to it, there is also a need to harmonise the biotechnology strategy document with the Draft Food Safety and Standards Bill 2005.

According to CII, export opportunities through SEZ/AEZ in crop biotech should be encouraged by following a shorter regulatory approval of one year duration while ensuring that there is no leakage into domestic environment of the GM crop meant for export. Further, CII has suggested that a dedicated, independent body could be created whose sole mandate would be to promote investments in the life sciences sector in the country.

CII said that currently there is a low level of awareness internationally about India as an attractive biotech investment destination. There is a need to articulate clearly what India's competitive advantage is in this sector vis-a-vis countries like Singapore, Australia, the US or even China. There is also a need to identify the target audience i.e. investor profile for long term gestation investments, and the Draft Strategy, according to CII, would go a long way in addressing these issues.

CII has also advocated promotion of India's highly skilled workforce (including English language capability), which is available at a relatively low cost base. CII is glad that the Draft strategy had taken special care to address the issue.

CII has been for long advocating the need for a National Biotech Policy and feels that the Draft National Development Strategy is a logical first step towards that direction.