ON FEBRUARY 22, Uttar Pradesh (UP) chief minister Yogi Adityanath flew down to Khumbi village, 170 km from Lucknow, to lay the foundation stone of Balrampur Chini Mills Ltd’s (BCML) polylactic acid (PLA) biopolymer manufacturing facility. The factory in the making — the first of its kind in India meant to produce biodegradable plastic — was the direct result of a policy push Adityanath made a couple of months ago, when UP became the first state to announce a “Bioplastic Industry Policy”.

To be operational by 2026-end, the BCML plant will have an annual capacity of 80,000 tonnes of PLA, an eco-friendly replacement of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a plastic used in making water bottles. Unlike PET, PLA is not petroleum-based, but thermoplastic polyester made from renewable resources such as sugarcane, corn starch or cassava. The UP government’s bioplastic policy helped BCML acquire 100 acres of land adjacent to the company’s existing sugar factory and part subsidise its ₹2,850-crore investment. The plant will have two global firsts to its credit — the first PLA unit to operate on 100% renewable energy, and the first one to have the entire manufacturing cycle at a single site.

Switching to PLA has multiple advantages. It is climate-friendly since it is not derived from fossil fuel. Being completely biodegradable, it eliminates environmental problems posed by single-use plastic straws, disposable cutlery, food trays, bottles, curd cups, carry bags, etc. It will open up a completely new set of factories and employment opportunities, a point Adityanath made clear when he said, “The state government will develop a bioplastic manufacturing cluster [that can house dozens of medium- and small-scale units making PLA cutlery, food tray, bottles] next to BCML’s PLA unit.” It will also spur economic growth, and align with the Central government’s BioE3 (Biotechnology for Economy, Environment, and Employment) Policy, which received Cabinet approval in August 2024.

“What the government wants is what we do with bioplastics and biochemicals. PLA is the first visible step in this direction”, says Stefan Barot, president, chemicals division, BCML.

An ambitious goal

India led the climate action talks at the UN Climate Change Conference 2021, with a pledge to become a net-zero emissions economy by 2070. The country also introduced the concept of Lifestyle for the Environment (LiFE), calling upon the global community of individuals and institutions to drive LiFE as an international mass movement towards “mindful and deliberate utilisation, instead of mindless and destructive consumption” to preserve the environment. Promoting the use of bioplastics is just one way to achieve this goal.

The BioE3 policy aims to accelerate ‘green growth’ by encouraging application of bio-tools and solutions across the Indian economy by aiding development and production of bio-based chemicals and enzymes, smart proteins, climate-resilient agriculture, etc. “The BioE3 policy emphasises innovation-driven support for R&D, establishment of bio-manufacturing, bio-AI hubs and bio-foundries, and the promotion of regenerative bioeconomy models”, says Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Science and Technology.

The administrative wing in charge of implementing the BioE3 policy — the Department of Biotechnology — is already establishing bio-enabler hubs through public-private partnerships across India. “The hubs will target six key sectors: bio-based chemicals, functional foods, precision bio-therapeutics, climate-resilient agriculture, biofuels, and marine/space research,” says the minister. So far, the bio-industrial (led by biofuels) and the biopharma (vaccines, drugs, devices) segments have largely contributed to India’s $165.7 billion (2024) bioeconomy, but the government estimates the BioE3 policy will push it further to $300 billion by 2030, and $1 trillion by 2047.

“The first industrial revolution was powered by steam and coal; the second by steel, electricity, and heavy engineering, and the third by IT and communications technology. The next 25 years will be defined by the industrialisation of biology — the bio-revolution,” says Rajesh S. Gokhale, secretary, Department of Biotechnology.

But then, how ready are we to achieve this ambitious goal?

Leading the change

In 2023, India hosted the 18th leaders’ summit of the G20 (Group of 20) nations. One of the key announcements was the launch of the Global Biofuel Alliance (GBA) with a focus on international collaboration, technology exchange, and enhanced policy frameworks.

The objectives of India’s ethanol blended petrol (EBP) are multi-fold, Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, said in Parliament. “As a green fuel, ethanol supports the environmental sustainability efforts of the government. It reduces import dependence on crude oil and promotes domestic agriculture, while saving forex. It has resulted in more than ₹1.04 lakh crore (December 2014 to January 2025) in payments to farmers, besides saving more than ₹1.20 lakh crore of foreign exchange, net CO2 reduction of about 6.26 million (626 lakh) metric tonnes and substitution of more than 20 million (200 lakh) metric tonnes of crude oil.”

In February 2025, the country achieved an ethanol blending of 19.68%, indicating that India is well on track to cross the 20% target set for December 2025 to November 2026. The country’s installed bioethanol capacity saw a remarkable surge, from 13.8 billion litres in 2023, to 16.2 billion litres in 2024, catapulting India as the world’s third-largest producer and consumer of ethanol, with production nearly tripling over the past five years.

The other area where India has already made a mark is bio-pharmaceuticals and vaccine manufacturing. Serum Institute of India (SII), Bharat Biotech International and Biological E. account for 40% of vaccines procured by the World Health Organization (WHO). According to WHO’s Global Vaccine Market Report, SII’s share of the global vaccine market, excluding Covid-19 vaccines, increased from 19% in 2021 to 24% in 2024, largely driven by a rise in the production of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV), measles-rubella (MR) vaccine, and tetanus-diphtheria (Td) vaccine.

In November 2024, Mumbai-based Wockhardt launched Nafithromycin, the country’s first indigenous macrolide antibiotic, to tackle the growing global problem of antimicrobial resistance. The result of three decades of research, with support from the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), the product is seen as an example of India’s growing capability to develop home-grown solutions for pressing healthcare challenges. BIRAC has enabled the introduction of 800 biotech products in the domestic market in the last 12 years, mostly related to sectors such as medical devices, diagnostics and therapeutics. Development and introduction of locally developed CAR T-cell therapies for blood cancer patients, and digital health solutions, including AI-driven diagnostics and remote monitoring, are a few examples. The success of the Central government’s startup fund-of-funds — Accelerating Entrepreneurs Fund (AcE Fund) — to promote biotech startups, is also an indication of the growing interest.

The AcE Fund, with a government investment ₹150 crore, has resulted in an overall investment of ₹1,172 crore across 88 biotech startups in the past four years. “The AcE Fund, launched on a pilot scale, was very successful. The government had put in ₹150 crore and VC companies 2x of that. In 2025, the government will put in ₹500 crore (with additional 2x investments coming from VCs),” says Jitendra Kumar, MD, BIRAC, the implementing agency of AcE. Notably, the number of Indian biotech startups has grown from 1,022 in 2016 to 10,075 in 2024. Biopharmaceuticals remains the second-biggest component of India’s bioeconomy with a size of $58.4 billion, or 35.2% share.

Opportunities ahead

“There’s a bio-solution for [almost] everything,” says the website of Denmark-based Novonesis, a leading global player in the production of industrial enzymes and micro-organisms. A visit to the company’s R&D centre in Bengaluru shows the research being done is not on enzymes, per se, but on how to make bio-solutions work better for user industries. The labs showcase how to cook healthier and tastier biscuits and breads, make better functional foods, and biodiesel out of used cooking oil.

Each lab is more like a demonstration centre doing R&D for manufacturing companies in the food, health, agriculture, textiles, and household care sector, says Krishna Mohan Puvvada, regional president, Middle East, India and Africa, Novonesis. “The way we have organised globally is through divisions. One division is called ‘Planetary Health Bio-solutions’ which means technologies and businesses that help protect the planet.”

According to Puvvada, the BioE3 policy will encourage futuristic industries. “The whole space of bio-chemicals will emerge. Probiotics will address the protein needs of a growing population. We have full-scale labs and applications to help. The R&D is catering to Africa and the Middle East.”

BIRAC’s Kumar agrees with the potential of emerging business models and bio-solutions. “We have funded many companies in climate-resilient agriculture. Success is yet to come, but firms are working on highly salt-tolerant varieties, or heat- or stress-tolerant varieties. When climate change strikes, we will be prepared. We have funded companies working on gene-edited crops, too.” The India Bio-Economy Report (IBER) 2025 considers bio-agriculture to be critical for sustainable food production, and anticipates the segment to expand at a CAGR of 17.6%, reaching $39.3 billion by 2030.

The government has already created a taskforce, with think-tank NITI Aayog, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Ficci) and several non-government bodies to come up to with ideas for material substitution that will result in a large-scale shift from conventional technologies and products to bio-solutions in the chemicals sector. The taskforce, called the Resource Efficiency & Circular Economy Industry Collaboration (RECIC), aims to mitigate carbon emissions by embracing renewable energy and developing renewable chemicals. The committee has recommended four-five pathways, which, if adopted and implemented, could give a massive push to eco-friendly bio-solutions.

The opportunity is immense. BIRAC’s bioeconomy update lists out five frontier technologies that can drive disproportionate growth — synthetic biology to develop eco-friendly materials; cell and gene therapy for rare diseases; use of AI in biology for drug discovery and diagnostics; precision agriculture, and bio-manufacturing for sustainable materials and enzymes.

Facilitation is key

BCML’s Barot is confident of running the company’s upcoming bioplastic manufacturing facility at full capacity from Day One, even though there is hardly an existing market for the raw material in India today. “If the government enforces the law (ban on single-use plastic), we would be sold out three times,” says Barot. “When we look at single-use plastics, 19 items are banned. In India, the market for cutlery items alone is more than 300,000 tonnes. The total bottle market is 1.5 million tonnes, of which, small single-use plastic bottles, which are banned, must be at least 15%. That’s good enough [demand].”

Biotechnology secretary Gokhale says India’s rise as a global bioeconomy leader could help it overcome the middle-income trap — a challenge that has stalled the progress of several emerging economies. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, and Gujarat are spearheading the bioeconomy race as of now. UP is also not far behind. Speaking at the BCML event in Kumbhi, Adityanath said, “The state government is committed to ‘enforce the ban on single-use plastic’.”

India’s ‘biomakers’ are beginning the sprint. There’s enormous opportunity ahead.