Biotech sector steadily growing with over 1,100 startups in the last year: K. VijayRaghavan

Quality of education, regulatory frameworks governing the biotechnology sector, economic factors, global competition and the potential of AI to democratise spaces were some of the many topics discussed in a wide-ranging conversation at the Biotech Conclave 2026, presented by VIT Chennai in association with The Hindu, on Friday (September 11, 2026).

Former principal scientific advisor to the Union government K. VijayRaghavan, who has worked with the National Centre for Biological Sciences and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, in conversation with Jacob Koshy, Science Editor, The Hindu, highlighted the importance of fundamental research — despite potential arguments that it was openly available from all over world — still being essential to invest in as today’s technologies could not simply be imported without understanding, and that the development of science and curiosity in our context was crucial.

Need for contextual regulation

On the regulatory frameworks in India, he noted that a lot of regulatory principles, till recently, were drawn from the West and there was an assumption that the more regulations there were, the better it was. But this resulted in only companies with deep pockets being able to jump through hoops, while a lot of innovation got thrown out. A deep understanding, he said, was needed for contextual regulation.

On the new innovations and startup space in biotechnology, Prof. VijayRaghavan said that the sector was growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12-13% or more, with over 1,100 startups started in the last year. But the challenge for small players today is that this is an extremely competitive space, he said. Even the stable, bigger companies are under threat, he said, because of the advent of new science, robotics and AI. This is a warning call for Indian biotechnology companies, he said, to invest in a fundamental connect between academia, global academia and translation.

On AI’s role

While AI was a democratising factor in some ways in terms of allowing experiments that could once only be conducted in the lab to be conducted on tabletops now and offered great potential, this also presented regulatory challenges and threats, he noted.

Prof. VijayRaghavan also stressed that the issue of quality education at scale in India needed to be urgently addressed. He recalled the suggestion to make the fourth year in undergraduate courses into internships in academia or industry to enable students to be ready. Otherwise, he cautioned, students would be in a serious crisis in a rapidly-changing world.