Telangana

Mr Jayesh Ranjan, vice chairman & managing director, Telangana State Industrial and Infrastructure Corporation, Government of Telangana, Hyderabad.

Telangana is a leader in biotechnology. Though historically there are many biotech clusters across India, Telangana biotech cluster is unique and is systematically planned. More than 200 biotech companies are housed in this cluster. The state offers complete ecosystem to nurture the biotech companies and help them grow, by providing required infrastructure and generating skilled workforce. Many world class research institutes like the CCMB and IICT are located in Telangana and this provides ample opportunities for vibrant convergence of key stakeholders- the academia and the industry to further enhance, enrich and encourage newer innovations and establishment of PPP models. The cluster of Genome Valley, located in Hyderabad has six smaller clusters excelling in different spheres of lifesciences like biotechnology, genomics, proteomics, pharmaceuticals, etc.

Key initiatives for future

We have further planned to foster this burgeoning sector by introducing certain key initiatives. The Telangana government has identified 14 core sectors for development of which biotechnology is one sector. We are planning to introduce sector specific policies that can address the needs and requirements of this sector to a large extent. The announcement of these policies will be made in the upcoming BioAsia event being held at Hyderabad from February 2 to 5, 2014. We are also planning to construct a new pharma city in the state which is three times bigger than the older pharma city and equipped with modern infrastructure, facilities and amenities, thus addressing some of the major shortcomings of the older city.

We are also planning to construct an exclusive biotech park for medical devices. The government is planning to increase funding for the biotechnology sector, in order to support research and development in the state and thus fueling further development of companies and nurturing young startups. As a legacy of pharma driven lifesciences, we would like to capitalize on this sector and provide policy support and infrastructure support to give a new fillip to this sector.