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'Biotech has made India net exporter of cotton'
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SME Times News Bureau | 05 Feb, 2013
Biotechnology has made India a net exporter of BT Cotton from being an
importer, with production nearly doubling to 510 kg per hectare from 225
kg over a decade ago, an industry player said Monday.
"Biotechnology
has raised standards in bio-agriculture with remarkable success in BT
(bacillus thuringiensis) Cotton, increasing its production to 90 percent
across the states," Karnataka's Biotechnology Vision Group chairperson
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw said at an industry conference-cum-expo in Bangalore.
Allaying
fears of genetic modifications in food crops, Shaw said the industry
had so far invested $7.5 billion in developing new methods in
bio-agriculture to produce varieties and increase yields and in
bio-pharma for improving healthcare with new drugs.
"The pharma
sector has benefited immensely from biotechnology with new discoveries
and formulations. As one of the largest producers of vaccines, we should
be able to produce affordable drugs through bio-similars," Shaw told
delegates at 'Bangalore India Bio 2013', the 13th edition of the
biotechnology industry event.
Shaw, who is also chairperson of
the country's biotech major Biocon Ltd., said innovative solutions were
under development to help physically challenged and visually impaired
people in overcoming their limitations.
Earlier, flagging the
three-day summit, Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar said around 26 percent
of revenue from the biotech industry in the country was generated by
firms based in Karnataka.
"The state is home to 52 percent of
core biotech firms in the country with five of the top 10 firms located
in Bangalore. The biotech park 'Helix' is taking shape and will be
operational by 2015," Shettar said.
The state government is also
setting up an incubation centre and common instrumentation facility in
the upcoming biotech park with financial aid from the central government
for the industry and academia.
"There are immense opportunities
for the biotech sector to grow exponentially. The sector has grown six
times since 2003 to $5 billion this fiscal with a compounded growth rate
of 20-22 percent annually," Shettar observed.
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