India is set to establish a ₹50,000-crore Bioeconomy Growth Fund under a new national roadmap designed to expand the country’s bioeconomy to nearly $700 billion by 2035, NITI Aayog member Prof. Gobardhan Das announced during the launch of the report “Building India as a Leading Bioeconomy Powerhouse by 2035.”
Prof. Das said India’s bioeconomy has witnessed nearly 16-fold growth over the past decade and now accounts for 4.8% of the country’s GDP. Describing the sector as being at a transformative stage similar to previous industrial revolutions, he said the proposed fund would support innovation through stronger talent development and world-class biomanufacturing infrastructure. He also called on industry, academia, researchers and investors to work together to position India among the world’s leading biotechnology nations.
Speaking at the event, Union Minister of State for Science & Technology Dr Jitendra Singh announced the launch of India’s first undergraduate programme in Engineering Biology, describing it as a major step toward building a self-reliant biotechnology ecosystem. He said Engineering Biology has the potential to play a role similar to computer science in the digital era, adding that several IITs have already proposed interdisciplinary courses in collaboration with medical institutions.
Dr Singh noted that India’s bioeconomy has grown from around $10 billion in 2014 to nearly $95 billion today and is expected to reach approximately $300 billion by 2030. He said the country now has more than 11,000 biotechnology start-ups, attributing the rapid growth to the government’s Biotechnology for Economy, Employment and Environment (BioE3) policy, which has helped translate scientific research into commercial applications.
Highlighting India’s achievements, Dr. Singh said the country developed the world’s first DNA vaccine against COVID-19, which was supplied to nearly 30 countries. He also pointed to advances in CAR-T cell therapy and gene-based treatments, saying these innovations are improving access to advanced and affordable healthcare. He added that synthetic biology, AI-driven biological research and biomanufacturing will shape the next phase of growth and stressed the need for stronger collaboration with the private sector.
Dr. Rajesh S. Gokhale, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, said India remains one of the fastest-growing bioeconomies globally, expanding at 15-18% annually. He noted that the country now has nearly 100 bio-incubators and over 10,000 biotechnology companies. According to him, the newly launched roadmap outlines a strategic framework focused on biomanufacturing, precision healthcare, sustainable agriculture, AI-enabled biology, and workforce development to strengthen India’s biotechnology ecosystem.