New BT policy offers incentives, concessions: Karnataka Govt

The policy has given rebate on stamp duty, exemption of entry tax, exemption from electricity duty and industrial tariff, among others.
Other incentives such as investment promotion subsidy, waiver of conversion fine, subsidy for effluent treatment plants, interest free loan on VAT, anchor unit subsidy, interest subsidy and financial support towards patent registration.
"We have responded to every need of the biotech industry", Principal Secretary in the department of IT, BT and Science and Technology, Ashok Kumar C Manoli, said at the release function.
Chairperson of the Vision Group on Biotechnology, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, who is also CMD of Biocon, said the new policy would enable biotech companies to conduct business in a simplified way.

According to the revised policy (the first policy came in 2001), Karnataka would have a Rs 50 crore bioventure fund, which would be set up in partnership with professional venture capital firms. State would give 26 per cent and the balance 74 per cent would come from venture capitalists.

Significantly, all research labs and R & D centres in the biotech space would come under the green category, which means Pollution Control Board permission would not be required, according to the new policy.

10 biotech finishing schools selected by the Vision Group would be set up with university accreditation, and the State financial support would be to a maximum of Rs one crore per school, Manoli said.

Neutri/neutraceutical, Phytopharmaceutical parks (both in Mysore), agri-biotech park (Dharwad), marine biotech park (Mangalore) and animal house (Bidar) would be established.
Animal quarantine facility would be set up at Bangalore International airport at Devanahalli.
To enhance technology applications in agriculture, field trials and experiments would be facilitated by leasing out land on long term basis.
A corpus fund of Rs 20 crore would be put in place to facilitate grant of Rs 20 lakh each for enabling commercialisation of research results.
Manoli said a biotech facility would be established in a 10,000 square feet built up space in the Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology at the Bangalore Biotech Park, at an estimated cost of Rs 23 crore.