Karnataka aims to become a $50-bn bio-economy by 2025: Deputy CM

Bio-economy uses renewable biological resources sustainably to produce food, energy and industrial goods.

Karnataka aims to become a $50-billion bio-economy by doubling the $22.6-billion sector in five years, said the state government at the Bengaluru Tech Summit on Friday. 

Bio-economy, which uses renewable biological resources sustainably to produce food, energy and industrial goods, has grown by at least 14 per cent in two years in Karnataka. It contributes 10.3 per cent to the Gross State Domestic Product of $221.82 billion. 

“Our target is to raise Karnataka’s bio-economy share to 50 per cent of the national bioeconomy revenue target of $100 billion by the year 2025,” said CN Ashwath Narayan, Karnataka's deputy chief minister and minister for electronics, IT, BT & S&T, while releasing the state’s 'Bioeconomy Report 2020'.

Karnataka expects bio-economy to touch $42 billion by 2025. “To bridge the gap in likely revenues, the report recommends a series of strategic initiatives to overcome this hurdle and cross the target in time, in the continuing spirit of the state’s industry, policy makers and government working together with a visionary approach,” said Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, executive chairperson of Biocon. 

The state plans to establish a vaccine hub, a bio-manufacturing hub, and add more value to agritech and marine biotech via biotechnological tools to achieve the $50-million target in time. It will also be setting up a biomedical cluster to make important diagnostic and medical devices. Shaw added that food, feed, healthcare and biofuels were areas that could boost growth in the sector. 

“Our confidence to achieve the target much earlier stems from the fact that Karnataka already has a rich presence of 35 plus State and Central research institutes. Initiatives like the upcoming Bio-industry cluster at Bengaluru Helix Biotech Park at Electronics City, state-of-the-art bio-incubators in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Dharwad, Bagalkot and Udupi, and seed funding support for more than 150 biotech startups opens new growth opportunities for the sector,” said Narayan.