India has placed considerable effort on biotechnology. At the national level, the Department of Biotechnology, established in 1986 as part of the Ministry of Science and Technology, is responsible for biotechnology research and development and biotechnology-related manufacturing, including bio-safety regulation. It also acts as the government's agent for biotechnology imports. The department supports two autonomous laboratories, the National Institute of Immunobiology in New Delhi and the National Facility for Animal Tissue and Cell Culture in Pune, Maharashtra. Research and development takes place in the areas of burn, heart, and cornea treatment; germplasma banks for plants, animals, algae, and microbes; viral vaccine; animal embryo technology; animal and human fertility control; communicable and genetic disease prevention; and biofertilizer, biocontrol, and biomass agents. The department also controls two state-owned enterprises involved in vaccine production, the Bharat Immunologicals and Biologicals Corporation and the Indian Vaccines Corporation, both in New Delhi.

CSIR oversees numerous subnational biotechnology institutions. These include the Central Drug Research Institute in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh; the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh; the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology in Calcutta; and the Institute of Microbial Technology in Chandigarh among others.

Defense

DRDO is subordinate to the Ministry of Defence, and its director general is the chief scientific adviser to the minister of defence. DRDO, which was established in 1958, has forty-five research laboratories and institutes serving the research and development needs of the armed forces. Its significant achievements include the development of light combat aircraft, aircraft engines, light field artillery, ballistic bomb fuses, smoke and incendiary devices, combat vehicles, satellite communications terminals, encryption devices, sonar systems, torpedo propulsion devices, high-performance inertial guidance systems, target acquisition and ground electronics, and various rocket and missile systems.

Data as of September 1995

NOTE: The information regarding India on this page is re-published from The Library of Congress Country Studies and the CIA World Factbook. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of India Biotechnology information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about India Biotechnology should be addressed to the Library of Congress and the CIA.