India’s A Damocles Sword hanging over our industry in the last 10-15 years has been removed with the latest amendments approved by Parliament to the Biological Diversity Act 2002. The amendments that have come in the form of new Biological Diversity (BD) Act 2023 is a great improvement over the original Act and is a welcome step by the government to help our BioEconomy that is now inching towards the $ 100 billion mark.

I am happy to note that ABLE had been at the forefront of championing the need for these much-needed amendments to the BD Act for more than a decade. ABLE members were most affected more than 10 years ago when the many inadvertent provisions of the Act were put into action by the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA). ABLE members continuously knocked on the doors of ministries involved, over the years to help the industry. However, some of the stringent provisions were hard-coded into the Act and only the Parliament could approve the changes suggested. This is what has happened over the last few years.

A draft legislation with most of the changes suggested by the industry was notified in December 2021 and a joint Parliamentary Committee further sought stakeholder suggestions and finally these amendments were incorporated into the Act and approved by both houses of our Parliament in July 2023. These changes will come into force as soon as it is notified by the government.

This newsletter has the highlights of the amendments that will help the industry, articulated by two foremost experts on this topic, Dr Malathi Lakshmikumaran and Mr Ravi Bhola. Decriminalization of minor violations, more clarity on definition of Indian and foreign companies that require multi-level permissions from the NBA, provision for adjudication for adverse rulings, monetary fines, ease of doing research without permission till commercialization are some of the key provisions. Both our experts answered a wide range of queries on this issue during the ABLE webinar on this topic on August 2023. The recording of this valuable discussion is available to members

The Science and Technology Ministry is giving all the thrust for India taking a big role in global biological manufacturing opportunities. This is gathering momentum, pushed by the DBT Secretary, Dr Rajesh Gokhale. A series of stakeholder consultation meetings are going on across the country in recent weeks. ABLE facilitated one such meeting in collaboration with BIRAC @ In-Stem in Bengaluru in August. The summary of the suggestions is given in the news letters. Members who could not attend in person are requested to send their suggestions to ABLE at the earliest so that these could be incorporated in the final biological manufacturing framework.

A hectic season of biotech conferences are ahead of us. ABLE is playing a key role in two major events,

1. The 26th edition of Bengaluru Technology Summit in Bengaluru from November 29 to December 1, 2023, organized by the Government of Karnataka and,
2. The next edition of the Global Bio India 2023 scheduled to be held in New Delhi, from December 4-6, 2023, organized by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India and BIRAC. ABLE is a key partner and this will be yet another great opportunity to show case our industry’s capabilities to the Nation and the World.

I will be sharing more details. Please mark these dates in your calendar and participate in large numbers.

G S Krishnan

Hon. President, ABLE