Biotechnology sector is one of the rapidly developing public sectors in India. It is a knowledge based sector. Biotechnology sector acts as backbone to many industries like healthcare, industrial processing, agriculture and environmental sustainability.  

DBT is under the control of Ministry of Science and Technology in India. It is an apex body that is responsible for the development of this sector. The main duties of these sectors are to plan, promote and coordinate the numerous programmes and activities related to biotechnology.

There are eight firms under the control of DBT which work for the medical, industrial and agriculture biotechnology. These companies are fully controlled by the Central Government.

Major Government Firms in Biotechnology Sector

Bharat Immunologicals and Biologicals Corporation Limited (Bulandshahar) – BIBCOL, located in Bulandshahar, was founded in the year 1986 as a public sector firm. The company aims in the manufacturing of Oral Polio Vaccines and other biological products. The company has got good modern manufacturing facility which is approved by the International standards. It has supplied over 700 million doses of OPV to the National Immunization Programme.

List of Biotechnology Firms in South Zone

Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (Hyderabad) – CDFD is located in Hyderabad and is an autonomous institution that comes under DBT. The company also receives fund by by undertaking various projects for other agencies. Apart from the regular services the centre also offers PhD programmes for aspirants in Life Sciences. The most modern aids equipped in the centre facilitate its aspirants to work on various research projects.

List of Biotechnology Firms in North Zone

Biotech Consortium India Limited – BCIL was founded in 1990 and declared as a public sector firm by DBT. The company is involved in various activities like information dissemination, technology transfer and manpower training & placement in related fields. It has worked in collaboration with over hundreds of clients. This list includes many scientists, research centers, national and international organizations, banks, etc.

Indian Vaccines Corporation Limited – IVCOL, located in Gurgaon, was founded in the year 1989. The company aims in various research & development programmes and manufacturing of viral vaccines.

National Centre for Plant Genome Research – NCPGR, one of the autonomous institutes, in New Delhi is funded by DBT. The centre conducts the basic as well as applied research programmes that cover the different areas of plant life.

List of Biotechnology Firms in West Zone

National Centre for Cell Science – NCCS, located in Pune, is mainly focused on the research in various areas like Immunology, Cancer Biology, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Genomics, Infectious diseases, Diabetes, Proteomics and Tissue Engineering.

List of Biotechnology Firms in East Zone

Institute of Bio-resources and Sustainable Development – IBSD is located in Imphal and it was officially registered in 2001 under the control of the state government, Manipur. It was started mainly focusing on the development of bio-resources using the various modern biological techniques.

Institute of Life Sciences – ILS located in Bhubaneshwar was established by the Central Government in the year 2002. It has also been declared as a “National Centre for Excellence”. ILS carries out various research programmes covering the main areas of life sciences.

All these biotechnology firms are under the control of DBT. They provide services to various fields in the country. The biotechnology field can be said as the applied biology that includes the use of various living organisms and other fields that requires bioproducts.