What lies ahead for India's bioeconomy sector?

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.