India is aiming for the phenomenal growth of the biotech sector from $70 billion to $150 billion in the next four years and this cannot be accomplished without the active participation of women, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh said today.
In the biotech start-ups sector, India was moving from women-specific to women-led projects, he noted after releasing a book based on “Compendium of 75 Women Biotech Entrepreneurs” at the Biotech Start-up Expo at Pragati Maidan here.
Singh said that in the past eight years of the Modi government, the number of female entrepreneur-owned biotech companies has seen an exponential rise and this could be aptly described as women-led empowerment, rather than women empowerment only.
The minister said that women scientists have carved a niche for themselves in Space, Nuclear Science, Drone and Nano-technology and added that many of the big scientific projects, including the most ambitious manned mission Gaganyaan to be launched in 2023, were being led by women scientists.
He said that one of the key pillars of the Prime Minister ‘New India’ initiative was the success story of women innovators in the country.
Singh revealed that the number of biotech start-ups in the country has increased from 50 to over 5,000 in the last eight years, because of the support and enabling milieu provided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi ever since he took over in 2014. “It is expected to cross the figure of 10,000 by 2025,” he added.
The minister further added that biotechnology was the key enabling technology driving the bio-economy that was recognised as a sunrise sector. He informed that India was ranked 12th in the world in biotech, third in Asia-pacific and the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world.