UPSC Mains 2018 GS Paper 3 Q15: model answer

Shantha Biotechnics of Hyderabad brought down the price of the hepatitis B vaccine in the 1990s from several hundred rupees a dose to about ₹50. Today the Serum Institute of India is the world's largest vaccine maker by doses. India's biotech story is about making advanced medicine cheap.

Why so much activity

• Talent: a large pool of scientists and engineers at lower cost.
• Pharma base: India's generics industry already had process skills and global approvals.
• Government support: the Department of Biotechnology (1986), BIRAC (2012), the National Biopharma Mission (2017) and the BioE3 policy (2024).
• Startups: more than 10,000 biotech startups now.
• Global demand for vaccines, biosimilars and contract research.
• COVID-19 showed the world what Indian vaccine makers could do at scale, and investment followed.
• Agri and industrial biotech also grew: Bt cotton, enzymes and biofuels.
• The bioeconomy is estimated at about $165 billion (2024), with a target of $300 billion by 2030.

How it has benefited biopharma

• Vaccines: Rotavac, Covishield and Covaxin, and ZyCoV-D, the world's first DNA vaccine for humans.
• Biosimilars: Biocon's insulin and cancer antibodies sold globally.
• Lower prices for patients at home and in Africa.
• UNICEF and Gavi supply: a large share of the world's childhood vaccines come from Indian makers.
• Contract manufacturing and research exports.
• New platforms: mRNA (Gemcovac), cell and gene therapy, such as India's first CAR-T therapy (NexCAR19, 2023).

Challenges

• Low R&D spending and risk capital.
• Slow regulation and clinical trial approvals.
• Dependence on imported equipment and reagents.
• IP and biosafety rules that lag behind new platforms such as gene editing.
• Price control pressures that cut margins for research.

Way forward

• Biomanufacturing hubs under BioE3, faster regulators, and university–industry links.

India's biotech rise is a story of affordability; the next chapter must be one of original discovery.