TN to join hands with PE/VCs to float Rs 500 cr fund for biotechnology

State Govt envisages revenue of around Rs 5,000 crore by 2016

Tamil Nadu Government is planning to join hands with venture capital and private equity firms to float a Rs 500 crore fund for bio-technology. The fund will focus on identifying and nurturing talent and in establishing networks for effective marketing of the products of thestart-ups. The State Government also planning to create a Research Fund with a corpus of Rs 100 crore.

This is part of Tamil Nadu Government's effort to boost the biotechnology sector in the State. Last month Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa announced a new Tamil Nadu Biotechnology Policy 2014,which envisage report a revenue of around Rs 5,000 crore by 2016.

"Biotechnology offers an enormous opportunity with a vast potential and easily thetarget can be achievable," said a senior official from the Government.

One of the main focus will be helping and hand holding the start-ups,said the official. The State Government will constitute a Biotechnology Capital Fund of Rs 500 crore on public private partnership (PPP) mode, in collaboration with leading venture capital and private equity funds, who have specialised in this field, through joint ventures with Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO), a state-run agency.

Thefund will help in identifying and nurturing talent and inestablishing networks for effective marketing of the products of thestart-ups.

Anew State Biotechnology Board will be established, which willidentify funding avenues to promote new companies.

The State Government also planning to establish a Biotechnology Research Fund, with a corpus of Rs 100 crore to begin with. The new fund would support research in thrust areas already identified and established.

It may be noted, some leading pharma companies including Pfizer, DowChemicals, Orchid Chemicals and Shasun Chemicals have established their Research & Development facilities in and around Chennai.

The State sees opportunities in vaccines and recombinant therapeutics, bioactive therapeutic proteins, steam cell, cell engineering and cell-based therapeutics, agriculture sector, animal biotechnology, contract research, clinical trials and outsourcing, bioinformatics, bio-fuels and others.

The State administration is planing to set up Department of Biotechnology and State Biotechnology Board, which will have representatives frompublic, research community, companies and state government, to foster the growth of biotechnology in the State. The Board will focus identify the areas need to be focus, establish infrastructure forresearch and manufacturing, establish specialty parks and will identify funding avenues to promote new companies.

It may be noted that Gujarat is one of the front-runners in promoting biotechnology industry and research with dedicated fund and biotechnology mission.