INDIA –Union Minister of State for Science and Technology, Dr. Jitendra Singh has launched a single national portal for biotech researchers and startups.

The portal “BioRRAP” will cater to all those seeking regulatory approval for biological research and development activity in the country and thus offer a huge relief for “Ease of Science as well as Ease of Business”, the Ministry of Science and Technology said.

Speaking after the launch of Biological Research Regulatory Approval Portal (BioRRAP), Singh stated that India is poised to become a global bio-manufacturing hub and will feature among the top five countries globally by 2025.

Staying on India emerging as a global bio-manufacturing hub, Singh informed that India is among the top 12 destinations for biotechnology globally and third largest biotechnology destination in the Asia Pacific region

The minister said that by 2025, the contribution of the Indian biotechnology industry in the global biotechnology market is expected to grow to 19 percent from a mere 3 percent in 2017.

He also added that the bio economy’s contribution to the national GDP has also grown steadily in the past years to 2.7 percent in 2020 from 1.7 percent in 2017 and will touch new heights after 25 years of bio-economy journey in the centennial year of 2047.

He further noted that the portal will also allow stakeholders to see the approvals accorded against a particular application through a unique BioRRAP ID.

India currently has over 2,700 biotech start-ups and more than 2,500 biotech companies working in the country.

India’s biotech research outlook

Research in the various biological fields is continuously expanding its outlook in India supported by the grants from various public and private sector.

Many of these research falls under the purview of one or more regulatory agencies which first approve the research proposal after which researcher undertakes that specific research.

The minister further added that at present there is no mechanism to track the requisite regulatory approval for a research proposal on a single portal.

Therefore, to provide more credibility and recognition to such biological researches, the Centre has developed a web system under which each research, requiring regulatory oversight, will be identified by a unique BioRRAP ID.

The portal will serve as a gateway and will help researcher to see stage of approval of their applications for regulatory clearances and to see preliminary information on all the research work being undertaken by the particular researcher and/or organization.

He hailed Department of Biotechnology’s (DBT’s) one-of-a-kind gateway as a step toward making science and scientific research more accessible to Indians, as well as making it easier to create businesses.

According to the minister, biotechnology has fast emerged as an academic and livelihood avenue for youngsters in India.

India currently has over 2,700 biotech start-ups and more than 2,500 biotech companies working in the country.

Describing the launch of portal as whole of government approach in tune with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision, Singh said this portal will strengthen interdepartmental synergies and bring accountability, transparency and efficacy in functioning of agencies regulating various aspect of biological research and issuing permission.

Congratulating the Department of Biotechnology for launching of BioRRAP portal, the minister suggested that the department should endeavor to evolve further mechanisms to make the procedures simpler and effective.

The minister pointed out that other than biotechnology, biological work related to biodiversity, latest methods of conservation and protection of flora and fauna, forest and wildlife, bio-survey and bio-utilization of biological resources are also gaining momentum in India due to effect of climate change on them.

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