'Bio-economy' grown 8 times in 8 yrs: Modi

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday that his government believes in strengthening every sector for giving momentum to the country's development, asserting that it has changed the earlier approach of focusing on a few sectors while ignoring others.

Addressing the Biotech Startup Expo here after inaugurating the two-day event, Modi said India's 'bio-economy' has grown eight times in the last eight years and has reached $80 billion from $10 billion and noted the country is not far from reaching the league of top 10 countries in the global ecosystem of biotech.

He said in the last eight years the number of startups in the country has increased from a few hundreds to over 70,000, adding that his government had worked to boost the ease of doing business and promote a culture of entrepreneurship.

Modi observed that these 70,000 startups are established in about 60 different industries. Noting that exports from some sectors have hit a record, he said supporting and developing every sector is the country's need and his government is exploring every means to give momentum to India's development. The biotech sector is very important in giving new momentum to the country's development, he said.

Noting that global trust in the skill and innovation of India's IT professionals in the world is at its new peak, he said the country's biotech sector is drawing a similar trust. Diverse population, diverse climatic zones, talented human capital pool, increasing efforts to boost ease of doing business, increasing demand in India for bio-products and the track record of this sector's success are the five big reasons for India being considered a land of opportunity in biotech, he said.

Modi said the Biotech Startup Expo 2022 will strengthen the 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' movement in the sector. It is a two day event being held on June 9 and 10. The theme of the Expo is 'Biotech Startup Innovations: Towards AatmaNirbhar Bharat'.