Amitabh Kant Urges India to Focus on Innovation at BioAsia 2025

India should transform from being production-centric to an innovation-dependent player on the world stage, Former Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said during his keynote address at BioAsia 2025. He underlined that the focus should be on "Discover and Make in India for the World" rather than "Make in India" and emphasized on increasing investments in R&D to pave the way for scientific discovery.

Kant said developing an ecosystem conducive to discovery-based innovation must be done through a reckoning of the cost and risk involved in the same. The regulatory framework of India needs to be simplified to encourage investments in research, he said, "We need to scrap a lot of rules and regulatory procedures to make the landscape simpler and more innovation-friendly "

Collaboration between government, industry, and academia, along with sustained funding for clinical trials and skill development, has become vital to spur innovation in the industry. While India's pharma exports rose from $19 billion in 2019 to nearly $28 billion in 2024, Kant asserted that the pilots would be biologics and biosimilars.

Kant has once more emphasized the significance of maintaining quality standards on the manufacturing side and complying with regulatory requirements after the growing quality concerns around us, especially in export markets. He suggested implementing a universal global standard as a means of protecting the reputation of India's pharmaceutical company.

Emerging technologies like AI, Machine Learning, and Data Analytics are going to define drug discovery and manufacturing in the future. With India having over 4.2 lakh tech engineers and 92% of enterprises now using AI, he urged the sector to accept AI-driven innovation.

To assist Industry 4.0, Kant proposed a government incentive package that could include weighted deductions for digital transformation and GST exemptions. Moreover, he praised the prowess of the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme in placing India on the fast track for growth in med-tech and pharmaceuticals.