Karnataka, Maharashtra frontrunners in booming biotech in last 10 years: Report

New Delhi: India’s bio-economy can touch $300 billion in the next five years, nearly doubling from the current volume of $165.7 billion in 2024, according to a new biotech industry report.

The biotechnology-driven economy has witnessed a remarkable 16-fold rise in the last 10 years, from $10 billion in 2014 to an impressive $165.7 billion in 2024 with Maharashtra and Karnataka being the top two states in the sunrise sector.

The sector contributes 4.25 per cent to the overall GDP and has shown a compound annual growth rate of 17.9 per cent over the past four years, showcasing India’s potential as a global biotech powerhouse like the USA and China, says the India Bio-economy Report, 2025 prepared by the Association of Biotechnology-led Enterprises (ABLE) for Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council.

“This is just the beginning. India’s bio-economy can grow to contribute 10-12 per cent of the GDP over the next decade, potentially elevating India into the ranks of the world’s top bio-based economies,” said Rajesh Gokhale, Secretary, the Department of Biotechnology.

The report – released by Union Science Minister Jitendra Singh on March 21 – projects India’s bio-economy market size to cross the $200 billion mark by 2027 and reach the $300 billion milestone by 2030. The growth rate is likely to be over 10 per cent from FY 2026 onwards. The $150 million mark was touched in FY 2023.

“A key milestone highlighted in the report is the growth of India's bio-startup ecosystem, which has now surpassed 10,075 startups, showcasing the country’s dynamic innovation landscape,” said GS Krishnan, ABLE president. The number of start-ups rose by almost ten times in the last nine years.

The two biggest areas for growth would be bio-medical and bio-industrial sectors that may increase to $128 billion and $121 billion respectively by 2030. These are to be followed by bio-services ($42.2 billion) and bio-agriculture ($39.3 billion).

The report comes a few months after the Union Cabinet approved the Bio-E3 policy - Biotechnology for Economy, Employment, and Environment – which seeks to promote bio-manufacturing activities and bio-foundries besides generating the skills and manpower for the technology-driven sector.

Maharashtra and Karnataka are the two top performing states with a bio-economy size of $35.5 billion and $32.7 billion respectively, followed by Telangana (nearly $20 billion), Gujarat ($13 billion) and Andhra Pradesh ($11 billion). The future growth is also projected mostly in the southern and western regions.