Karnataka’s bio-economy to reach $50 billion by 2025
The Hindu
Karnataka to push for investments in biopharma, medical devices
Karnataka Government plans to tap the Central Government’s Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme to aggressively push for investment in the bio-pharmaceuticals and medical devices sector, said C.N. Ashwath Narayan, Minister for Information Technology-Biotechnology, Higher Education, Science and Technology, on March 22.
Participating in the ‘Bio-economy 2025 and Beyond’ summit organised by ABLE (Association of Bio-economy-led Enterprises), he said the bio-economy of Karnataka, which is currently valued at $24.4 billion contributing 33% of the national share, is on course to achieve $50 billion in terms of value by 2025.
Bio-economy segments such as bio-industrial, comprising bio-renewables, bio-energy, bio-fuels, and green chemicals, are expected to be the next big segment that would drive future growth. said the Minister. The segment has the potential to increase by 4-fold in its contribution to the bio-economy of the State from around $2 billion to around $7 billion, he explained.
The State Government has plans to attract investment in bio-agriculture (agriculture and animal husbandry) and bio-industrial (enzymes, biofuels, biomass, and green chemicals) industries to grow its bio-economy. Research and development services, marine bio-tech and BioIT and informatics services would also be focus areas for the State over the next few years, he added.
Karnataka is the third-largest producer of bio-fuels among the States which have reached 9% blending of petrol in 2021, he said, adding that the State’s Bio-tech industry crossed $180 million in R&D spend. A total of 95 bio-tech start-ups were set up in Karnataka in 2021, averaging almost 8 start-ups every month, the Minister stated.
Karnataka has emerged as the preferred destination for bio-tech investments in India. At present, the State hosts about 60% of the bio-tech companies in India and employs about 54% of the country’s total bio-tech workforce, according to Mr. Narayan.
Also, the bio-technology industry in the State has been at the forefront of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic by developing and deploying a variety of anti-virals, diagnostic tests, and administering vaccines. For instance; the State provided 2.3 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccines per day totaling 86.4 million doses in 2021, he added.
The election authorities are gearing up for the counting of votes cast in the simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, scheduled to be held on June 4. The Collectors and Election Officers of Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli and Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) districts said on May 23 (Thursday) that their teams were ready for the counting of votes.
Responding to the prolonged water scarcity, the residents of the area took to the streets in protest on Wednesday. The protest, which drew attention to their plight, stopped only after the intervention of the police. It was not until 1.30 p.m. that a 4000-litre tanker was finally delivered by BWSSB, providing relief to the water-starved residents.