"The market for all kinds of analytical and scientific instruments will be $1 billion,"

-S Thyagarajan, chairman, Spinco Biotech

What is the current size of the analytical instruments industry in India? What are the drivers and bottlenecks influencing the market?

As the vice president of Indian Analytical Instruments Association (IAIA), president of Chromatographic Society of India (CSI) and secretary of Indian Chapter of International Society of Lyophilization and Freezedrying (ILSFD), I have the opportunity to discuss the market trend and figures with other companies. We estimate that the present market for all kinds of analytical and scientific instruments will be $1 billion. Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry (MS) products, by their sheer volume of business, will continue to be strong growth drivers in analytical instrumentation business. However, I feel that life science research products will have a higher growth rate, say not less than 25 percent per annum, driven by requirements from the newly established sectors such as Clinical Research Organizations (CROs) and R&D efforts undertaken by local and multinational pharmaceutical and biotech companies apart from increased government R&D spend. Besides the government initiatives like approving more SEZs for manufacturing will provide a favourable climate for growth in the analytical and life science instrumentation market. We strongly believe that further growth can be achieved if the government considers reduction in duties on main instruments and more so in consumables.

What are the current market trends?

I have just mentioned that the market size for analytical and scientific instruments in India is $1 billion. We estimate a growth rate of around 15 percent per annum and the market is expected to reach around $1.5 billion by 2010. Chromatography business is expected to grow at 15-20 percent, while MS and life science instrumentation will witness a higher growth of 20-25 percent per annum. It is reported that certain market categories such as X-Ray diffraction will achieve more than 30 percent YOY growth in the coming years.

Jahanara Parveen