Unlocking the enormous potential of AgBio start-ups in India

Agriculture Biotechnology (agbio) start-ups in India can potentially contribute US $150 B to India’s bio-economy by 2025, said experts at a webinar hosted by ICRISAT in partnership with the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC). The easing of bio-regulations in India and the start-up boom is expected to spur the growth of the agbio start-up domain in India.

Experts from seed industries, public research organizations, incubators, start-ups, and investors along with ICRISAT scientists participated in the webinar, which is among a series of 75 online events planned as part of India’s 75th Independence Day celebrations. The events are being coordinated by the Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) to highlight advancements in science and technology, and provide opportunities for collaboration amongst academia, industry, and start-ups for delivering technologies to the market.

Incubators to facilitate market entry

In his inaugural address, Dr Manish Diwan, Head-Strategic Partnership & Entrepreneurship Development, BIRAC, talked of agbio potential to resolve productivity and production challenges faced by the agriculture sector and the role of start-up incubators in facilitating market entry of technologies.

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and BIRAC have been developing the much-needed ecosystem through platforms like the BioNEST centers and various schemes to support start-ups. BIRAC has established an extensive network of 74 BioNEST incubators across 21 states in India, including 15 incubators dedicated to the agriculture sector. BIRAC has also supported the establishment of BioNcube of ICRISAT through the Agri-Business Incubator of ICRISAT (ABI-ICRISAT) and the Platform for Translational Research on Transgenic Crops (PTTC).  

Dr K Srinivas, Assistant Director General (Intellectual Property & Technology Management), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), shared details of the agribusiness incubator network in ICAR institutions. These incubators cover a wide range of sub-sectors, ranging from agriculture and horticulture to animal husbandry and access to farmer networks.

Challenges and solutions

One of the earliest active investors in agbio start-ups, Mark Kahn of Omnivore, shared his experience with the problematic regulatory domain. He spoke of challenges such as limited qualified life science talent pool, lack of exposure to bio-entrepreneurship, limited infrastructure and facilities for bio start-ups, and poor understanding of life science start-up segment amongst the investor community due to limited in-house experience and expertise.

Dr Paresh Verma, Director of Research at Bioseed Research India, briefed on transgenic research, and the need for genome editing techniques for promoting sustainable agriculture to increase nutritional security and mitigate the impact of climate change. Dr Verma emphasized the need to strengthen public-private partnerships and develop a policy framework that encourages investments in high-risk and high-value research.

The panelists also agreed upon the need for more market-driven research and an understanding of industry needs to identify potential commercial opportunities in the ag-biotech sector.

Dr Sudhakar Reddy, Principal Investigator of BioNcube of ICRISAT, said the incubator has been supporting start-ups right from developing the proof-of-concept to product development and commercialization. With the technical capacities and facilities at ICRISAT, the team is ready to support more ventures working on transgenics, ag-biologicals, and secondary agriculture.

Other key panelists included Dr Bharat Char, Chief Scientist, Mahyco; Ram Kaundinya, Director General of the Federation of Seed Industry of India; Dr Senthil Vinayagam, CEO at a-IDEA of NAARM; Dr Mrutyunjay Suar, CEO, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT)-Technology Business Incubator (TBI); Dr Siva Reddy Vanga, Former Group Leader with the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology; Dr Malathi Lakshmikumaran, Executive Director & Practice head with Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan Attorneys; and Dr Renuka Diwan, Founder of BioPrime Agrisolutions Pvt Ltd.