India’s bio-economy will soon become $300 billion economy, positioning as global leader: Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, GoI
October 07, 2025
Imperative for universities to chart out curriculum by using AI to equip students to become future ready: Secretary, Govt of Puducherry
NEW DELHI, 07 October 2025: Prof Abhay Karandikar, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Govt of India today said that India’s innovation ecosystem is growing rapidly due to the enabling policies that the government has laid out along with the entrepreneurial spirit of our younger generations. In order to give boost to this entire R&D ecosystem, the government has been taking a slew of measures to support the ecosystem, he added.
Addressing the 20th edition of ‘FICCI Higher Education Summit 2025’, Prof Karandikar stated that the government is also focusing on biomanufacturing and with the recent policy interventions the aim of the government is make India a biomanufacturing hub. “The bioeconomy of India has grown significantly to reach $150 billion economy, and with the recent thrust on the bioeconomy, we will soon become $300 billion economy, positioning it as a global leader in the bioeconomy,” he noted.
He further stated that the number of full-time equivalent R&D personnel in India is one of the lowest in the world. It is about 262 per million of population in our country while in smaller countries like South Korea, the full-time equivalent R&D personnel is in the range of 3,000 to 4,000. “We have set a goal that by 2030, we should increase the full-time equivalent R&D personnel to 500, and by 2047 we need to have in the range of 2,000 to 2,500 full-time equivalent R&D personnel. This is linked with improving the overall research and innovation ecosystem in the country,” he emphasized.
Prof Karandikar added that Indian universities are taking the leadership role in the global economy. India's path to global science and technology (S&T) leadership, from the government's point of view, we are implementing institutional and sectoral reforms. “We have a vision of building a world-class S&T ecosystem, and we want to achieve this through strategic investment, strong collaborations, and a globally competitive research network. We would like to have policies which will empower the talent and innovation in terms of strengthening not only the human capital, but also the R&D infrastructure,” he added.
Speaking on the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat, the Secretary said that India's vision for a developed economy is to emerge as a future-ready, self-reliant, global leader, and it would be driven by the science, technology, and innovation. “Universities and the research institutions, academic institutions are going to be at the center of this in driving the agenda further,” he added.
Ms Padma Jaiswal, Secretary, Govt of Union Territory of Puducherry said that the state has network of institutions which are using artificial intelligence (AI) to make the students future ready.
“Universities have been instrumental in redefining their curriculum based on the New Education Policy 2020. We can see a transformational change while we are transforming the universities,” she added.
Ms Jaiswal also stated that skill development is playing an important role in the overall educational system. There is a need to address a gap between the requirements of the industry and what is being trained in the higher educational institutions. “It is imperative for the universities to chart out the curriculum by using AI otherwise we will be left behind in the race of education to equip our students to become future ready,” she emphasized.
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