Maharashtra to set up biotech board
By Praveen Chandran | 28 Dec 2001
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Mumbai: The Maharashtra state government has decided to set up a biotech board and a biotech commission, for which it has earmarked an initial corpus of Rs 50 crore, in an attempt to attain a leading position in India’s biotechnology sector.
The government has also decided to provide adequate infrastructure in the form of a biotechnology park and to develop a world-class higher education and research base to serve the needs of the growing Indian biotech industry.
The state government’s biotech policy will also aim at providing high-quality employment and creating supporting institutions for the industry to develop human resource and applications of biotechnology. The proposed Maharashtra biotechnology board will be presided over by the state chief minister. Eminent leaders in the industry and the science and technology sector will be among the other members.
State government authorities say both the biotechnology board and the biotechnology commission will be backed by a biotechnology development fund with a nucleus of Rs 50 crore initially. "The board will ensure proper and timely implementation of the policy, so that social and economic benefits of the biotechnology revolution will be made available to every citizen of the state, whereas the commission will be responsible for the proper utilisation of the biotechnology development fund."
The commission will identify areas where investments by the state in biotech interventions in a proactive manner will lead to large economic and social benefits for the state. The biotechnology companies located in the state will be permitted to acquire and own agricultural lands in excess of the current ceiling limits, provided they are being specifically utilised for experimentation and field trials.
Biotechnology units will be exempted from electricity duty, the policy said, and the sales tax on biotechnology products will be made available at the floor-rate level at least for next five years. A methodology to define biological products will also be evolved.
The government has also decided to provide adequate infrastructure in the form of a biotechnology park and to develop a world-class higher education and research base to serve the needs of the growing Indian biotech industry.
The state government’s biotech policy will also aim at providing high-quality employment and creating supporting institutions for the industry to develop human resource and applications of biotechnology. The proposed Maharashtra biotechnology board will be presided over by the state chief minister. Eminent leaders in the industry and the science and technology sector will be among the other members.
State government authorities say both the biotechnology board and the biotechnology commission will be backed by a biotechnology development fund with a nucleus of Rs 50 crore initially. "The board will ensure proper and timely implementation of the policy, so that social and economic benefits of the biotechnology revolution will be made available to every citizen of the state, whereas the commission will be responsible for the proper utilisation of the biotechnology development fund."
The commission will identify areas where investments by the state in biotech interventions in a proactive manner will lead to large economic and social benefits for the state. The biotechnology companies located in the state will be permitted to acquire and own agricultural lands in excess of the current ceiling limits, provided they are being specifically utilised for experimentation and field trials.
Biotechnology units will be exempted from electricity duty, the policy said, and the sales tax on biotechnology products will be made available at the floor-rate level at least for next five years. A methodology to define biological products will also be evolved.
