Food Parks to Get SEZ Status ged to invest upto Rs.

9,000 crore in
Indian Biotech Industry :
various parks across the country
The government is likely to grant A Few Facts
which has a potential of creating
Special Economic Zones (SEZs) status Indian Biotech industry worth $ 2-billion
direct employment opportunities to
to the proposed mega food parks that ($ 213b)
2.8 million people.
Plan (2007-12). These food parks are Exports : Rs. 4,937 crore ($ 12 billion)
expected to attract substantial invest- News in Nut Shell a growth of 47%
ments in cold storage, refrigerated
vans, transport services, grading Biotechnology Exports Go up Sales Growth
centres, laboratories as well as other by 47% in 2006-07 Biopharma : Rs. 5,973 cr, growth of
The Indian biotechnology 27%
supporting services. Recently the
industry has shown a growth of 31% Bioservices : 53%
Ministry of Food Processing has
Bioagri : 55%
sent a proposal to the Planning during 2006-07 to reach Rs. 8,541
crore while exports from this sector Bioinformatics : 21%
Commission for granting relaxation
grew by 47% to Rs. 4,937 crore in Bioindustrial : 5%
in the minimum area limit applicable
2006-07. Of the 325 biotech companies By 2010, the industry, with nearly
for food SEZs from 1000 hectares to 400 firms, would attain a size of $ 5
10 hectares so as to enable smaller in the country, nearly 40% operate in billion in revenues with 100 biotech
food processing units within the the biopharma sector, followed by products in the market.
ambit of the SEZ scheme. Ministry bioservices (21 per cent), bioagri- Top 10 Companies
advocates that extending SEZ benefits culture (19 per cent), bioinformatics
1Serum Institute, Pune
to food parks will reduce the cost of (14 per cent) and bioindustrials (5 per Rs. 951 crore
producing processed food items and cent). The biopharma segment, 2 Biocon, Bangalore, Rs. 823 crore
hence the Ministry has envisaged an accounting for over two-thirds of the 3 Panacea Biotec, New Delhi
initial investment of Rs. 120 crore for industry, has been reported sales of Rs. 600 crore
setting up the common infrastructure Rs. 5,97 3 crore in 2006-07, represent- 4 Rasi Seeds, Salem
in the parks. The Ministry also ing a growth of 27%. The bioservice Rs. 333 crore
presents the view that by providing a sector registered 53% growth, the bio- 5 Nuziveedu Seeds, Hyderabad
grant of Rs. 1500 crore for 30 food agriculture sector grew by 55% and Rs. 226 crore
parks (i.e. Rs. 50 crore for each park), the bioinformatics and bioindustrial 6 Venkateshwara Hatcheries
the private sector would be encoura- sector by 21% and 5% respectively. 7 Indian Immunologicals
8 Shantha Biotechnics
Calorie Consumption 9 Mahyco
All India average, per capita food intake in kilo calories/day 10 Bharat Serums
Revenues of over Rs. 100 cr.
All India 1972-73 1993-94 1999-2000 2004-05
Source : Bio Spectrum-Association of
Rural 2,226 2,153 2,149 2,047 Biotechnology Enterprises
Urban 2,107 2,071 2,156 2,020 Survey
Bottom 30% 1,504 1,678 1,626 n.a.
Government Plans to Use $ 5
Middle 40% 2,170 2,119 2,009 n.a.
billion Foreign Exchange Reser-
Top 30% 3,161 2,672 2,463 n.a.
ves for Infrastructure Projects
Source : NSSO 61st round 2007. The government has decided to
Statewise averages, per capita food intake in kilo calories/day borrow $ 5 billion of the countrys
Rural Rural Urban Urban
foreign exchange reserves for funding
local infrastructure projects through a
1972-73 2004-05 1972-73 2004-05
new firm based abroad. The amount
Andhra Pradesh 2,103 1,995 2,143 2,000 a little less than 3% of the countrys
Assam 2,074 2,067 2,135 2,143 reserves of over $204 billion held by
Bihar 2,225 2,049 2,167 2,190 the Reserve Bank of Indiawill be
Gujarat 2,142 1,923 2,172 1,991 loaned to new subsidiary of India
Haryana 3,215 2,226 2,404 2,033 Infrastructure Finance Company
Karnataka 2,202 1,845 1,925 1,944 (IIFCL). This firm, in turn, will use
Kerala 1,559 2,014 1,723 1,996 the borrowed funds to finance capital
Madhya Pradesh 1,895 1,933 2,229 1,954 imports of Indian companies,
Maharashtra 1,895 1,933 1,971 1,847 especially in the infrastructure sector
Orissa 1,995 2,023 2,276 2,139 to start with. Part of these funds
Punjab 3,493 2,240 2,783 2,150 could also be used to co-finance the
Rajasthan 2,730 2,180 2,357 2,116 foreign borrowings of such projects.
Tamil Nadu 1,955 1,842 1,841 1,935 This loan of $5 billion as well as
U.P. 2,575 2,200 2,161 2,124 returns of these funds will be
W. Bengal 1,921 2,070 2,080 2,011 guaranteed by the government. The
Source : NSSO 61st round, 2007 Continued on Page 343

PD/August/2007/230 If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.