India's 'bio-economy' grown eight times in eight years: PM Modi

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday that his government believes in strengthening every sector for giving momentum to the country's development, asserting that it has changed the earlier approach of focusing on a few sectors while ignoring others.

Addressing the Biotech Startup Expo here after inaugurating the two-day event, Modi said India's 'bio-economy' has grown eight times in the last eight years and has reached USD 80 billion from USD 10 billion and noted the country is not far from reaching the league of top 10 countries in the global ecosystem of biotech. He said in the last eight years the number of startups in the country has increased from a few hundreds to over 70,000, adding that his government had worked to boost the ease of doing business and promote a culture of entrepreneurship.

Modi observed that these 70,000 startups are established in about 60 different industries. Further talking about the shift of talent towards the sector, he said the number of investors in the biotech sector has risen by nine times and biotech incubators and funding for them has increased by seven times. "The number of biotech incubators has increased from six in 2014 to 75 now. Biotech products have increased from 10 products to more than 700 today," he said.

Noting that exports from some sectors have hit a record, he said supporting and developing every sector is the country's need and his government is exploring every means to give momentum to India's development. The biotech sector is very important in giving new momentum to the country's development, he said.

Talking about the growing reputation of Indian professionals on the global stage, the prime minister said, "trust in the skill and innovation of our IT professionals in the world is at new heights. This same trust and reputation, this decade, we are seeing happening for the biotech sector of India and for the bio professionals of India."