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Maharashtra aims to ride the biotech boom

Priya Ganapati in Bombay

Maharashtra may have missed the infotech bus, losing the advantage to Bangalore, but the state is making sure that it would be right in the front to enjoy the spoils of the biotech boom.

The state government is pulling out all the stops and is putting into place a series of initiatives that will ensure that Maharashtra becomes the biotech hub of the country.

On October 13, it will unveil the first draft of a biotechnology policy that will detail out an action plan for the state.

The report is the result of a taskforce that the government set up on December 14, 2000 to formulate a policy on the lines of the IT policy to aggressively market the state as an ideal biotechnology destination.

Headed by Dr R A Mashelkar, Director General of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, the largest chain of research laboratories in the world, the taskforce has 17 members drawn from the industry and scientific circles.

It boasts of names like Ashok Ganguly, chairman, ICI Private Limited; Dr Ashis Datta, vice-chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Dr Swati Piramal, chief scientific officer, Nicholas Piramal India Limited and Dr Paul Ratnasamy, director, National Chemical Laboratory.

"The taskforce will also assess the needs and potential of the biotech sector and suggest how the government can help," says Surendra Bagde, deputy CEO, software parks MIDC and the official in charge of Maharashtra's biotech initiatives.

The complete report of the taskforce will be made public by mid-November.

Biotech development fund

The government has also announced that it would set up a biotech development fund with a corpus of Rs 500 million. "The fund will be permitted to receive overseas grants for funding various biotech initiatives," says Maharashtra chief secretary, V Ranganathan.

While the biotechnology policy is being worked on, it has embarked on a project to build huge biotech parks supported by quality testing centers and technology and research institutes.

In partnership with Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company, the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation is setting up a biotechnology park near Jalna, about 60 km from Aurangabad.

MAHYCO, which is one of the largest producers of quality hybrid seeds, has over a 100 scientists already working on site.

Biotechnology parks

MIDC has also roped in Ernst & Young to scout for joint venture partners for two additional biotechnology parks planned for Pune and Aurangabad. These parks are expected to focus on biotech for the pharma industry.

"Pune will have a 150-acre park, for which we have already acquired the land, and are in the process of building the infrastructure. E&Y has started preparing the business plan and in about a month-and-a-half we will hold roadshows to solicit partners," says Bagde.

In addition to these, MIDC will have a 150-hectare floriculture park near Talegaon that would offer all the requisite facilities like cold storage, adequate water supply and specialised transportation.

"The land is in our possession and we have appointed Sebeco, a consultant, to work on the design and the infrastructure requirements of the park," enthuses Bagde.

Advantage Maharashtra?

Though the government's efforts are definitely a step in the right direction they come just a little late.

Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have already stolen the march and have already taken steps to attract investments in this sector.

Maharashtra Vs Karnataka Still to formulate a biotech    policy. Governmental    committment yet unproven. Biotech policy formulated    already in Feb. Strong    committment by the    Government. New entrants like pharma    giants Pfizer, Glaxo and    Wockhardt. Presence of already    established biotech players    like Biocon. Pharma and agri-biotech    seen as core areas. Banking on Genomics and    Bioinformatics. Poor track record in the IT    sector. Image problem as the   Government is not considered    dynamic enough. Poor public    relations. Strong base in IT.    Psychological advantage    because of IT and a dynamic    chief minister. Good    enterpreneurial culture. Strong air connectivity and    presence of ports. No international airport. Poor    port facilities.

Quick to realise that the IT mania is on the wane and biotech could be an alternative, in February, Karnataka announced its biotech policy.

The policy made clear the initiatives that the government would take to promote the sector.

But Maharashtra government officials counter these arguments.

"An already established policy in Karnataka means nothing, for the state has not made much strides since then. Some of the proposed sites for the biotech parks near Bangalore have now come under controversy. So, Maharashtra still holds a lot of advantages," a senior official advising the government said.

The division of the biotech pie is slowly becoming clearer. While Maharashtra has upped the ante in the pharma and agri-biotech areas, Bangalore has seen a profusion of companies in the genomics and bioinformatics.

"Maharashtra certainly has a very strong presence on the pharma and agri biotech side. It has many established companies in these two areas already operating in the state. Start-ups prefer Bangalore because of the city's strong association with the IT industry, so bioinformatics has an edge in Bangalore. But Maharashtra is a committed, intelligent and a very pro-active state," says Alok Gupta, associate director of Rabo India, whose subsidiary Rabo Biotech has been actively working in the advisory services for both the government and private companies.

In the pharmaceutical biotech sector, there are multinationals like Pfizer India, Glaxo, Wockhardt and Lupic Laboratories who are based in Maharashtra and have huge research laboratories in the state.

For instance, headquartered in Bombay Wockhardt has a huge biotech park and research facility in Aurangabad. Among the first movers in the field, it focuses on biotechnology and genomics research. In just a year, sale of biotechnology products has jumped by 6 per cent and now constitutes 10 per cent of the company's total sales.

Wockhardt already has two successful biotech products in the Indian market - BIOVAC-B (Hepatitis-B vaccine) and EPOX (Erythropoietin).

On the agri-biotech front, there are names like Monsanto, MAHYCO and Hindustan Agrigenetics.

Monsanto has a portfolio consisting of herbicides, seeds and biotechnology products.

"Agricultural biotechnology will, perhaps, have the maximum impact on our country, in terms of social and economic aspects because ours is an agrarian economy. Also, increased productivity will help India maintain its self-sufficiency and also be a strong player in the world market. The opening up of world markets also demand that we improve productivity in a manner that is sustainable in the long run, an option that agricultural biotechnology provides," says Meena Vaidhyanathan, spokesperson, Monsanto.

Karnataka, in turn, has already established biotech players like Biocon, a specialised biotech company that manufactures biomolecules for healthcare and speciality industrial enzymes. Even in its policy, the government has zeroed in on genomics and bioinformatics, which has a strong tie to the information technology sector.

But Gupta warns that the situation is extremely fluid now and each state is still struggling to find its niche. "The industry is in such a nascent stage that no company right now is going getting into just one aspect of biotech. Everyone has a little stake in each field of the biotechnology. Wherever opportunities arise and companies find value they will move into it," he says.

For Maharashtra, the biotech boom could give the state a second chance to move into technologies and areas of the future. With its strong infrastrucutral network like road, rail and air connectivity, ports and an image as the financial center of India, Maharashtra still has many aces up its sleeve.

What could finally tilt the balance in its favor is the strong network of academic and research institutes in the state.

Recently, IIT Bombay set up a biotechnology school on the lines of the Kanwal Rekhi School of Information Technology. It also offers an M.Tech in Biotechnology that can be undertaken by students from different fields.

Research centres like the Tata Memorial Cancer Research Centre and the Reliance Life Sciences -- which is among the ten laboratories in the world named by US President George Bush as eligible for federal funding in stem cell research -- are headquartered in Bombay.

"There is a very good network of hospitals in Bombay, which can provide excellent research opportunities for pharma-biotech companies. There are also many R&D centers of big companies spread across the state and good academic institutions here," says Bagde.

Biotechnology Commission

This time around, Maharashtra can take no chances. And the government is quick to realise that. As soon as the report of the taskforce is made public, it will set up a Biotechnology Commission that will act as an advisory board. The commission will advise the government of biotech initiatives, managing the fund and according approval of proposals for financing from the fund.

"The commission will have senior industrialists, biotech academicians and eminent scientists on its panel. Biotech is a technical subject and the government wants to make sure that it has the right people advising it on all issues," says Bagde.

Enough for all

Only time can tell who corners the lion's share of the biotech pie, but for now there seems to be enough for everyone.

A recent report by Rabo India Finance pegged the biotechnology sector in India at $ 1 billion and forecast that the industry could grow to $ 3 billion industry by 2002.

"I think there is enough for each state to work for. Biotechnology is a huge sector and its potential is yet to be tapped. We have just touched the tip of the iceberg here," says Gupta.

But senior executives in the biotech industry caution against taking the numbers too seriously.

"These are just preliminary indicative figures. There are still a lot of gaps out there. The potential of each stream in the biotechnology sector is yet to be assessed properly," says a senior industry official.

Maharashtra government officials too are reluctant to hazard any numbers.

"It is very difficult to give a quantitative estimate on the Indian market as it is still at a very nascent state. We are trying to co-ordinate with various players in the field and hope to come out with some numbers in our report," says Bagde.

Though he is not willing to concede that Maharashtra woke up just a wee bit late for the IT revolution, all he will say is that with the biotech initiatives, the state will silence its critics effectively.

"We will provide single-window clearances. We promise immediate and quick decision making and will offer all kind of hand-holding services for biotech companies in Maharashtra," Bagde said.

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