NITI Aayog proposes ₹50,000 crore fund to make India global biotech power
A NITI Aayog roadmap has proposed creating a ₹50,000 crore BioEconomy Growth Fund, a dedicated production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for biomanufacturing and six national biotechnology
A NITI Aayog roadmap has proposed creating a ₹50,000 crore BioEconomy Growth Fund, a dedicated production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for biomanufacturing and six national biotechnology missions as part of an ambitious strategy to transform India into one of the world’s top three biotechnology powers by 2035. The report, Roadmap for Building India as a Leading BioEconomy Powerhouse by 2035, was made public on Thursday (July 16, 2026). It says India should move beyond the broad framework laid out under the Biotechnology for Economy, Environment and Employment (BioE3) policy and adopt a mission-mode execution strategy backed by new financing, regulatory reforms and cross-ministerial governance. It targets expanding India’s bioeconomy from $195.3 billion in 2025 to $691 billion by 2035 and $2.6 trillion by 2047, while generating more than 30 million high-value jobs. “The goal is not to just research but to build globally competitive biotechnology companies,” said Debjani Ghosh, Distinguished Fellow, NITI Aayog, at the launch of the report.
The centrepiece of the recommendations is a proposed ₹50,000 crore fund for 2026-35 to bridge what the report describes as the biotechnology sector’s “valley of death” — the gap between proof-of-concept research and commercial-scale manufacturing. The fund would provide blended finance, equity-risk instruments, viability-gap funding and infrastructure support for biomanufacturing, advanced therapeutics, synthetic biology, fermentation technologies and diagnostics. It also recommends introducing a dedicated PLI scheme for biomanufacturing to accelerate domestic production and reduce import dependence. The roadmap also recommends launching six BioMissions with clearly identified lead Ministries and measurable outcomes by 2035. These include GeneIndia for affordable gene and cell therapies, AgriBio 2.0 for climate-resilient gene-edited crops and biological farm inputs, BioX Foundry to commercialise synthetic biology innovations, One Health Grid for integrated surveillance of infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance, Marine Biotechnology to expand seaweed cultivation and marine bio-products, and BioPharmaNext to establish India as a global hub for biologics, biosimilars and AI-enabled drug discovery.
To coordinate implementation, the report proposes creating several new institutions, including an Empowered Committee on BioMissions, a BioData Council to oversee biological and health data governance, a BioEconomy Investment and Policy Forum to align government and private investment, and a BioIP and Innovation Evaluation Agency to help value biotechnology intellectual property and accelerate commercialisation. “We need to improve data sharing particularly among Ministries,” said Soumya Swaminathan, Chairperson, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, and one of the advisors on the report. “We have a 10,000-genome project but the UK Bio Bank has 50,000 genomes all matched with clinical endpoints. This has led to tens of thousands of highly cited research papers being generated.” The roadmap further recommends dedicated fast-track approval pathways for emerging technologies such as cell and gene therapies, synthetic biology and AI-designed drugs, alongside modernisation of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation.
The BriefWire