Union Minister Jitendra Singh calls for increased private sector participation and strategic collaboration to fast-track India’s biotechnology innovation and commercialisation efforts, backed by new government funding initiatives and global industry linkages.
Union Minister of State Jitendra Singh has urged a bigger role for private investors in India’s biotechnology sector, arguing that stronger ties between research, industry and capital are needed to move home-grown ideas into commercial use more quickly. The call came during a meeting in New Delhi with senior officials from the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, where the discussion centred on how to widen industry participation, improve market access for indigenous technologies and deepen engagement with life sciences companies and investors.
The talks also revisited the BIRAC Research, Development and Innovation Fund, a central pillar of the government’s ₹1 lakh crore research and innovation push. According to official material on the scheme, the fund is meant to back high-risk biotechnology projects that are already beyond the earliest research stage, with support ranging from ₹5 crore to ₹200 crore and financing tools including loans, equity and hybrid instruments. BIRAC said the first national call for proposals drew 198 applications, with eight eligible entities selected so far for due diligence.
Officials also discussed how India’s growing network of life sciences global capability centres could be linked more closely with domestic biotech firms, start-ups and research infrastructure. India now hosts more than 1,700 such centres employing around 1.9 million people, and government officials want to use that base to channel demand for pilot manufacturing, research and development and other specialised services towards Indian bio-foundries, incubators and start-ups. The meeting additionally explored the use of corporate social responsibility money for biotech-led projects in areas such as affordable healthcare, diagnostics, maternal and child health, nutrition and climate-resilient agriculture.
The ministry is also looking to raise BIRAC’s visibility and make it easier for companies and investors to find opportunities in the sector. Proposals discussed included branding at airports in Jammu and Vadodara and the creation of a BIRAC Start-up Investor Connect platform to link fundable companies with capital. The push fits with a broader government effort this year to present biotechnology as a strategic growth sector, after Singh separately highlighted private participation, start-up innovation and international partnerships in meetings with Bill Gates in March and with Sergio Gor, the United States ambassador, in May.
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