Indian biotech industry touched revenues of $4 billion crore in 2010-11. Among biotech companies, Bangalore-based Biocon retained the number one position with revenues of Rs 1,083 crore, followed by Pune’s Serum Institute of India with Rs 1,041 crore and New Delhi-based Panacea Biotec with Rs 928 crore.

As per the ninth annual BioSpectrum-Association of Biotechnology-led Enterprises (ABLE) survey, the biotech industry recorded revenue growth of 21.5 per cent over Rs 14,199 crore clocked in 2009-10.

The bio-pharma vertical with a total revenue of Rs 10,645 crore contributed almost two-fifth of the industry revenues, followed by bio-services with 18.82 per cent and bio-agriculture with 14.38 per cent.

The fastest growing bio-agri sector has increased its market share in the last five years — from less than five per cent to over 14 per cent. With cotton farmers lapping up BT cotton seed produced by the two dozen companies in the country, this sector is on a growth path. Five bioagri companies now form part of the BioSpectrum-ABLE Top 20 list. Among the top companies, Biocon grew by 26 per cent while Ankur Seeds nearly doubled its revenues. The biotech industry derived 51 per cent of the overall revenues — Rs 8,852.34 crore — from exports.

Comparing the growth by region, the south region caught up with the west, improving its share in the overall Indian biotech industry to 44.22 percent in 2010-11 from 39 per cent in 2009-10.

In terms of the number of companies, south continued its dominance with 175 firms, while west had 139 and north India 48.