Biotechnology Industry Facts and Jobs

July 19, 2010- Biotechnology industry came in in 1970s with the recombinant DNA technique. Since then there is no looking back and now the biotechnology career is on boom with wide number and type of biotechnology industry jobs in India as well as across the world. Healthcare, pharmaceutical and food safety are the major industries that have numerous biotechnology industry jobs. As of Dec. 31, 2006, there were 1,452 biotechnology companies in the United States biotechnology and related companies that make $50 billion in annual revenue. Close to 80,000 people were doing jobs in biotechnology industry in the year 1992.

What is Biotechnology?

In simple words biotechnology is the science that combines technology with biology. In this comes Chemistry, Engineering, Genetics, Biochemistry, Immunology, Microbiology and Virology along with many other subjects like Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Health and� Medicine, Cell Biology, Plant Physiology, Seed Technology etc are part of it. In biotechnology living organisms are used to make pharmaceutical, agricultural, environmental and other products that are beneficial to the environment as well as human beings. Also it is used in plants and animals to alter their genetic information for the improvement and to get more benefits from them.

To begin to prepare for a career in biotechnology, check out our section on Biotech Jobs

Biotechnology Industry Facts

• More than 200 new therapies and vaccines have been created by biotechnology.
• Farmers are benefited a lot by the agricultural biotechnology. This includes decrease in the use of pesticide, better soil and water condition, better high yielding and disease resistant seed quality and more on this side.
• Criminal investigations and forensic medicines have been greatly helped by the biotechnology industry.
• Industrial biotechnology industry has led to the better use of resources that includes less water and less energy use.
• As of Dec. 31, 2006, in US there were 1,452 biotechnology companies.
• It is one of the most research-intensive industries across the world.

Biotechnology Industry in India

In terms of number of biotechnology companies India was ranked at number three position after Korea and Japan in the entire South-Easter Asia in 2006 (Ernst and Young). In India there are about 280 biotech companies and out of which Biocon is the largest biotech company. The Indian biotech industry is expected to grow up to Rs. 4,40,000 crores by 2020. Along with educated manpower there are large cost-competitive advantages. In india the biotechnology industry is divided into five categories. These are

• Bio-pharma
• Bio-services
• Bio-agri
• Bio-industrial, and
• Bioinformatics

Out of these Bio-pharma is the largest on that contributes 65% of the total revenue from this industry.

Biotechnology Industry Facts in India

• Globally India is in the list of top 12 biotech markets and it is third in Asia Pacific region.
• India has 2% share of the global biotechnology industry.
• The total size of biotechnology industry in India will touch USD 5 billion by 2010 and USD 25 billion by 2015.
• Rise in domestic business, new innovations and increase in exports has caused the 18% growth in the year 2008-09.

Biotechnology career in India is a good option as there is huge network of biotechnology companies, research laboratories, rich agriculture and a very trained and educated manpower. A biotechnology professional can get biotechnology industry jobs in varied industries like chemical, agricultural, environmental and allied industries. You can also become scientist of assistant in Universities and colleges where this subject is being taught and researched.

Top Biotechnology Companies in India

• Biocon
• Serum Institute of India
• Panacea Biotec
• Piramal Healthcare
• Wockhardt Limited
• GlaxoSmithKline
• Bharat Serum
• Krebs Biochemicals and Industries Limited
• Zydus Cadila
• Indian Immunologicals

Read in Details on Top Biotech Companies in India

Popular Biotechnology Institutes in India

Although there are many Institutes of Biotechnology in India but the most popular ones are:

• University of Pune
• Sinhagad College of Science in Maharashtra
• Al-Ameen College
• Mahatma Gandhi University
• Mohanda College of Engineering & Technology in Kerala
• Amity Institute of Biotechnology
• Indian Institute of Technology and University of Delhi in Delhi
• Anna University in Tamil Nadu
• Guru Nanak Dev University
• Punjab University in Punjab