Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal to invest up to US$ 2 billion in Anglo American

Mumbai: Billionaire metals maven Anil Agarwal made a surprise bid for as much as 13% of British mining giant Anglo American Plc for $2.4 billion, a move that will give him a foot in the door of the $23-billion conglomerate, which is larger than his Vedanta Resources. It also gives him a piece of De Beers, the diamond powerhouse owned by Anglo American.
The move, made through his personal investment firm Volcan Investments, was announced late on Wednesday in London. While sources close to the Indian industrialist were insistent that it was not a “hostile bid”, the move comes a year after a merger proposal by Agarwal’s Hindustan Zinc was rebuffed by Anglo.
In an interview to Bloomberg at the World Economic Forum at Davos in January, Agarwal had said: “There was a proposal that Hindustan and Anglo American should merge… It was a good match. One and one wasn’t going to be two, but 11.”
The full stake will equate to about 13% of Anglo’s stock, giving Agarwal, an investor long reputed to have a “risk-taking appetite”, enough influence to bring the metals and mining major back to the negotiating table. The shareholding of Anglo American is widely dispersed with the South African government holding a significant stake. Agarwal seemed to play down any such intent.
“This is an attractive investment for our family trust. Anglo American Plc is a great company with excellent assets and a strong board and management team who are executing a focused strategy to drive shareholder value. I am delighted to become a shareholder in Anglo American Plc,” Agarwal said. His interest in Anglo American may also lie in the mining company’s ownership of De Beers, the world’s leading diamond exploration, mining and marketing company.
India’s diamond production is negligible, but it is the largest consumer of rough diamonds in the world, importing 80% of total global production with an import bill of $15 billion, besides being a hub for processing the stones. De Beers produces over 30 million carats of diamonds per year, 35% of the global production of roughs.
“Anil Agarwal always looks for opportunities to grow,” said veteran investment banker Nimesh Kampani. “Once he takes a strategic call, he goes the whole hog. He has a sharp mind in spotting good investments.”
Anglo American has revenue of $23 billion, Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of $6.1 billion and market value of more than $20 billion. It is a global leader in both platinum and diamonds apart from base metals and minerals — copper, nickel, niobium and phosphates. It also produces bulk commodities such as iron ore and manganese, metallurgical coal and thermal coal.
Thanks to a rebound in metal prices, Anglo American has seen its fortunes recover. At its peak in November 2007, when commodity prices were quoting at lifetime highs, market cap had touched $101billion. When commodity prices plummeted, this dropped to $8.88 billion.
ATTRACTIVELY PRICED
At current prices, Anglo American isn’t cheap, but is still attractively priced, quoting at price-earnings multiple of 7.48, whereas Vedanta, the Indian mining and metals major owned by Agarwal, is quoting at a PE of 13.2.
Agarwal has been honing his acquisitive instincts from the early days. Back in the early eighties, he took a Rs 60-lakh loan from Syndicate Bank to buy jelly-filled cables. He was rebuffed by Alcan in the midnineties, when he made an unsolicited bid for its Indian subsidiary.
Alcan finally sold Indal to the Aditya Birla Group. In 2008, he pipped Lakshmi Mittal to buy iron ore miner Sesa Goa for $980 million. He used the cash with Sesa Goa to partly fund the acquisition of Cairn India for about $9 billion.
Agarwal, who once famously said he understands the “algorithm of metals”, has had transactions with Anglo American in the past.
The Konkola copper mines in Zambia were initially owned by Anglo American and Roan Selection Trust. Subsequently, government entities became the main shareholders. In 2004, Vedanta acquired a controlling stake in the mines from them.
In 2010, Vedanta acquired Anglo American’s portfolio of zinc assets in Namibia, South Africa and Ireland.
Through his entities, Agarwal has also signed an agreement with the South African government for sharing advanced mining technology.
With Agarwal’s Volcan owning 13% of Anglo American, Agarwal will be the second-biggest shareholder after the South African government investment firm Public Investment Corp, which owns 14%.
Any move by the government to sell will have Agarwal in pole position to drive a deal in his favour. Collateral for the deal will be Anglo American shares. Volcan intends to finance the investment through mandatory exchangeable bonds. The sale will be led by JPMorgan as sole bookrunner, on or around April 11, the closing date.
Agarwal started as a scrap dealer in 1975. It’s part of the folklore that when he first visited Mumbai at age 19, he was so struck by the opulence of what’s now the Trident Hotel on Marine Drive that he booked himself in, just to get a feel of the city and a sense of what it meant to be successful. But, frugal as he was, he ate and did his laundry elsewhere.

Air Train To Link Terminals at IGIA by 2020

New Delhi: The Delhi International Airport Pvt. Ltd. (DIAL) has proposed an Automated People Mover (APM) or air train between Terminal 1, T2 and T3 at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport. In compliance with the provisions of Operation, Management and Development Agreement (OMDA), M/s Delhi International Airport Private Limited (DIAL) has reviewed and updated the Master Plan of IGI Airport, New Delhi in 2016 in consultation with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Airports Authority of India and Sovereign agencies providing reserved services at the airport and with other stakeholders.
The Master Plan, 2016 contains a provision for Automated People Mover (APM) for connecting all the terminals of the airport. Total length of the proposed APM alignment is 5.5 km out of which 1.5 km is underground whereas 4.0 km portion is elevated. The Master Plan recommends this facility to be available by year 2020. DIAL has already taken steps for exploring all technical possibilities for providing the APM facility in consultation with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). The design, project cost and other details etc. are finalized during the finalization of the Major Development Plan in compliance with the OMDA.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Civil Aviation Shri Jayant Sinha in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Development of Airport Infrastructure and Setting up of New Greenfield Airports Committee Suggests Gradual Bifurcation of ANS from AAI

Development of Airport Infrastructure and Setting up of New Greenfield Airports
Committee Suggests Gradual Bifurcation of ANS from AAI
New Delhi: The present infrastructure capacity of airport is generally sufficient for handling existing air traffic. However, keeping in view of rapid growth of domestic airlines, expansion of infrastructure at airports including runway, terminal building and air space harmonization has been undertaken.
It is planned to revive 50 airstrips and airports over a period of three years starting from 2017-18 at a total estimated cost of Rs. 4500 crores. However, the development of airports and airstrips to be undertaken only in those States where the State Government agrees to provide the requisite concessions and a firm commitment from airlines to fly from or to such airports.
The Government of India has granted "in principle" approval for setting up of the 18 Greenfield airports in the country. The list of these airport along with the estimated cost is as under: MOPA in Goa (approx. Rs. 3100 cr), Navi Mumbai (approx. Rs. 16704 cr), Shirdi (approx. Rs. 320.54cr) and Sindhudurg (approx. Rs. 520cr) in Maharashtra, Bijapur (approx. Rs. 150cr), Gulbarga (approx. Rs. 13.78 cr in initial phase), Hassan (approx. Rs. 592 cr) and Shimoga (approx. Rs. 38.91 cr) in Karnataka, Kannur in Kerala (approx. Rs. 1892 cr), Durgapur in West Bengal (approx. Rs. 670 cr), Dabra in Madhya Pradesh (approx. Rs. 200 cr), Pakyong in Sikkim (approx. Rs. 553.53 cr), Karaikal in Pudducherry (approx. Rs.170 cr), Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh (approx. Rs. 448 cr), Dholera in Gujarat (approx. Rs. 1712 cr) and Dagadarthi Mendal, Nellore Dist. (approx. Rs. 293 cr), Bhogapuram in Vizianagaram District near Visakhapatnam (approx. Rs. 2260 cr) and Oravakallu in Kurnool District (approx. Rs. 200 cr), Andhra Pradesh. In Addition Airports Authority of India (AAI) has begun the PPP bidding process for O&M contracts for Jaipur and Ahmedabad airports.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation had set up a two member Committee consisting of Shri Ashok Chawla, Ex-Chairman, Competition Commission of India and Shri Satendra Singh, Ex-DGCA to examine afresh the issue related to creation of separate Air Navigation Services entity by hiving off Air Navigation Services (ANS) from Airports Authority of India (AAI). The committee has suggested bifurcation of ANS from AAI in a gradual manner.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Civil Aviation Shri Jayant Sinha in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Steel mills in India reversing import woes with export push

Mumbai: India’s steel exports rose 78 per cent to 6.6 million tonnes, while imports fell by 39 per cent between April 2016 and February 2017, making India a net exporter of steel for the first time in four years, according to the Indian Steel Association. The domestic steel output grew 11 per cent to 92 million tonnes and consumption grew 3.4 per cent to 76.2 million tonnes during the same period. During 2015-16, India imported 11.7 million tonnes as it was flooded with cheap supplies from China, the biggest steel producer and exporter. To control inflows, the Government of India initiated trade measures like safeguard tax, anti-dumping duty and floor price on shipments.

Cabinet approves National Health Policy 2017

A huge milestone in the history of public health in India: J P Nadda
It provides policy framework for achieving universal health coverage, and is patient-centric and quality-driven: J P Nadda
New Delhi: Terming the Cabinet approval of the National Health Policy 2017 as a huge milestone in the history of public health in the country, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare Shri J P Nadda said that it seeks to reach everyone in a comprehensive integrated way to move towards wellness. Shri Nadda added that NHP 2017, which is patient-centric and quality-driven, provides the much needed policy framework for achieving universal health coverage and delivering quality health care services to all at an affordable cost. The Union Health Minister stated under the guidance of the Hon. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji, the Health Ministry has formulated the National Health Policy 2017, after a gap of 14 years, to address the current and emerging challenges necessitated by the changing socio-economic and epidemiological landscapes since the last National Health Policy was framed in 2002.
Shri Nadda said that “The Policy recommends prioritizing the role of the Government in shaping health systems in all its dimensions. The roadmap of this new Policy is predicated on public spending and provisioning of a public healthcare system that is comprehensive, integrated and accessible to all. Further, it advocates a positive and proactive engagement with the private sector for critical gap filling towards achieving national goals. It envisages private sector collaboration for strategic purchasing, capacity building, skill development programmes, awareness generation, developing sustainable networks for community to strengthen mental health services, and disaster management”. The Minister added that the Policy advocates financial and non-financial incentives for encouraging the private sector participation.
NHP 2017 seeks to promote quality of care, focus on emerging diseases and invest in promotive and preventive healthcare. It addresses health security and make in India for drugs and devices. The Policy has also assigned specific quantitative targets aimed at reduction of disease prevalence/incidence, for health status and programme impact, health system performance and system strengthening. It seeks to strengthen the health surveillance system and establish registries for diseases of public health importance, by 2020. It also seeks to align other policies for medical devices and equipment with public health goals.
Elaborating on the salient features of the NHP 2017, Shri Nadda said that the Policy advocates a progressively incremental assurance-based approach. The broad principles of the Policy are centered on professionalism, integrity and ethics, equity, affordability, universality, patient centered and quality of care, accountability and pluralism. It aims to achieve the highest possible level of good health and well-being through a preventive and promotive health care orientation in all developmental policies, and to achieve universal access to good quality health care services without anyone having to face financial hardship as a consequence, Shri Nadda added.
There is a sharpened focus to inform, clarify, strengthen and prioritize the role of the Government in shaping health systems in all its dimensions- investment in health, organization and financing of healthcare services, prevention of diseases and promotion of good health through cross sectoral action, access to technologies, developing human resources, encouraging medical pluralism, building the knowledge base required for better health, financial protection strategies and regulation and progressive assurance for health. The Minister also said that the Policy emphasizes reorienting and strengthening the public health institutions across the country, so as to provide universal access to free drugs, diagnostics and other essential healthcare.
The Policy positions primary healthcare to be comprehensive and universal. It also seeks to ensure improved access and affordability of quality secondary and tertiary care services through a combination of public hospitals and strategic purchasing in healthcare deficit areas from accredited non-governmental healthcare providers, achieve significant reduction in out of pocket expenditure due to healthcare costs, reinforce trust in public healthcare system and influence operation and growth of private healthcare industry as well as medical technologies in alignment with public health goals.
As a crucial component, the Policy proposes raising public health expenditure to 2.5% of the GDP in a time bound manner. It envisages providing larger package of assured comprehensive primary health care through the ‘Health and Wellness Centers’ and denotes important change from very selective to comprehensive primary health care package which includes geriatric health care, palliative care and rehabilitative care services. It advocates allocating major proportion (up to two-thirds or more) of resources to primary care followed by secondary and tertiary care. It also aspires to provide at the district level most of the secondary care which is currently provided at a medical college hospital. In order to provide access and financial protection at secondary and tertiary care levels, NHP 2017 proposes free drugs, free diagnostics and free emergency care services in all public hospitals. The Policy envisages strategic purchase of secondary and tertiary care services as a short term measure to supplement and fill critical gaps in the public health system.
National Health Policy 2017 affirms commitment to pre-emptive care (aimed at pre-empting the occurrence of diseases) to achieve optimum levels of child and adolescent health. It envisages school health programmes as a major focus area as also health and hygiene being made a part of the school curriculum.
In order to leverage the pluralistic health care legacy, NHP 2017 recommends mainstreaming the different health systems: better access to AYUSH remedies through co-location in public facilities; Yoga would be introduced much more widely in school and work places as part of promotion of good health.
Under a ‘giving back to society’ initiative, the new Health Policy supports voluntary service in rural and under-served areas on pro-bono basis by recognized healthcare professionals. It also advocates extensive deployment of digital tools for improving the efficiency and outcome of the healthcare system and proposes establishment of National Digital Health Authority (NDHA) to regulate, develop and deploy digital health across the continuum of care.
There is also a strong focus on improving regulatory mechanisms recognizing the need to regulate the use of medical devices so as to ensure safety and quality compliance as per the standard norms.
Government of India formulated the Draft National Health Policy and placed it in public domain on 30th December, 2014. Thereafter following detailed consultations with the stakeholders and State Governments, based on the suggestions received, the Draft National Health Policy was further fine-tuned. It received the endorsement of the Central Council for Health & Family Welfare, the apex policy making body, in its Twelfth Conference held on 27th February, 2016.

Flipkart gets US$ 1 bn from Tencent, Microsoft at US$ 11-bn valuation

Bengaluru: India's largest e-commerce marketplace Flipkart has closed a $1 billion funding round with backing from Chinese Internet giant Tencent and participation from Microsoft, just two months after former Tiger Global executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy took over as CEO of the company.
This latest round of funding brings down the valuation of India's most highly valued startup to $11 billion from a previous high of $15 billion according to sources close to the development. While the round has been completed, the company has so far not disclosed any details on the investment.
Flipkart declined to comment on "market speculations" citing company policy.
Apart from the $1 billion, Flipkart is also looking at an additional $500 million investment from eBay which is in talks to merge its India entity with the company and exit the business. The investments will give Flipkart the firepower it needs to take on a fast-growing Amazon and also a potential entry into the peer-to-peer e-commerce market. Amazon owns peer to peer marketplace Junglee and has integrated its services on its main platform.
After asserting his dominance in the boardroom earlier this year and pushing for the appointment of key aide Krishnamurthy to the position of CEO, Lee Fixel has not participated in the latest funding round. After sinking over $1 billion into Flipkart, Tiger Global seems to be prepping for an exit from India's most successful startup according to one of the sources.
Flipkart is engaged in a heated battle with US-based rival Amazon in India which has committed to investing $5 billion into the country over the next few years. Before Krishnamurthy's arrival at Flipkart in mid-2016, the company suffered nearly 12 months of stalled growth that made investors jittery.
In the meantime, Amazon had grabbed a big chunk of the market at the expense of number two Indian rival Snapdeal, burning huge amounts of money on discounting products and rolling out loyalty services such as Prime. Flipkart saw some respite in the festive season sales of 2016, where it is believed to have outperformed Amazon by a large margin.
With Krishnamurthy at the helm of the company, some sense of positivity has returned at Flipkart. The latest round of funding shows the return of investor confidence, with the drop in valuation suggesting a return of sensibility in the market rather than skepticism of the company's future.
Some industry watchers are however seeing this as the second big battle in the war to dominate India's fast-growing e-commerce market. The entry of Chinese online retail giant Alibaba through a recent $200 million investment in Paytm E-commerce could challenge even Amazon's seemingly endless supply of cash.
While Flipkart seems to have built up on its war chest with the latest and planned investments, the future of Softbank-backed Snapdeal seems bleak. The company has been struggling to raise funds for itself as well as attract external funding for its digital payments arm Freecharge, despite payments being the hottest sector in India's startup space right now.

Larsen arm wins Rs 1,656 crore contract from ONGC

Mumbai: The order, which was bagged and will be executed by L&T’s subsidiary, L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering relates to ONGC’s Neelam Re-Development & B173AC projects. It entails building of one
Larsen & Toubro has bagged an offshore project order worth Rs 1,656 crore from state-run ONGC, the engineering major said in a statement Monday.
The order, which was bagged and will be executed by L&T’s subsidiary, L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering relates to ONGC’s Neelam Re-Development & B173AC projects. It entails building of one new process platform having gas processing and compression facilities, three new well head platforms, 32 km pipeline, clamp-on on three existing platforms and modification work on eight existing platforms in the Neelam Field in western offshore basin in India.
The project, part of ONGC’s strategy to enhance the field life and increase recovery of Neelam field, is scheduled to be completed by April 2019. The incremental gain from the field after implementation of project till 2034-35 is pegged at 2.76 million ton crude oil and 4.786 BCM gas, L&T said. Neelam Offshore field is situated in the Heera-Panna block in Mumbai Offshore, located at about 45 km South-West of Mumbai city.

Chinese investment under Make in India

New Delhi: Chinese companies have shown significant interest to invest in India in a wide range of sectors since the launch of Make in India campaign. As per data maintained by DIPP/RBI, between April,2000 and December,2016, cumulative FDI inflows from China were INR 9,933.87 crores. Of the cumulative FDI equity inflows, 77.9% have been received since 2014 as detailed below :-
2014-2015 : INR 3,066.24 Crores
2015-2016 : INR 2,975.14 Crores
2016-2017(till December,2016) : INR 1,696.96 Crores
An MoU between the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China and Ministry of Commerce & Industry of India has been signed on cooperation on Industrial Parks in India on 30th June,2014 in Beijing.
Pursuant thereto, Joint Working Group (JWG) of the Indian side was constituted on 16th July,2014 to act as the nodal point to identify and agree upon the detailed modalities for implementing cooperation under the said agreement, and to periodically review progress. Three JWG meetings have so far been held. The last meeting of JWG was held on 2.11.2016 at Beijing, China. It was decided during the meeting that both sides will encourage all stakeholders to expedite the implementation for which all necessary facilitation would be provided.
Following MoUs have so far been signed between Indian State Government Agencies and Chinese Investors for development of Industrial Parks in States :-
a. MoU between Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), Govt. of Maharashtra and Beiqi Foton Motors, China for Auto Industrial Park in Pune;
b. MoU between Industrial Extension Bureau (iNDEXTb), Govt. of Gujarat and China Development Bank Corporation (CDB), China for supporting the setting up of Industrial Parks in Gujarat;
c. MoU between Industrial Extension Bureau (iNDEXTb), Govt. of Gujarat and China Small and Medium Enterprises (Chengdu) Investment Limited (CSME) to set up multi-purpose Chinese Industrial Park in Gujarat;
d. MoU between HSIIDC, Govt. of Haryana and Dalian Wanda Group for development of an integrated Entertainment Park-cum-Industrial township in Haryana;
e. MoU between HSIIDC, Govt. of Haryana and China Fortune Land Development (CFLD) for development of an Industrial Park in Haryana.
This information was given by the Commerce and Industry Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

India seeks to jump 40 places in World Bank's Doing Business rankings

New Delhi: India is targeting an ambitious 40-notch jump in the World Bank’s Doing Business survey this year. Last year, its rank rose by just one place to 130 in the survey that measures the ease of doing business in various countries.
According to an output-outcome framework document prepared by the government, India wants to reach the 90th rank in 2017-18 and 30th by 2020.
“Better rank in ease of doing business and greater awareness about opportunities in India in manufacturing sector would lead to growth in the manufacturing sector,” the document said.
Department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) secretary Ramesh Abhishek said the targets are feasible.
“We are hoping to do extremely well in five categories: starting a business, construction permits, paying taxes, trading across borders, and resolving insolvency. We are already in the top 50 in three parameters out of 10. We are facing challenges in two criteria: enforcing contracts and registering property because of the complexity involved,” he said.
India was ranked within the top 50 countries in parameters such as protecting minority investors (13th), getting electricity (26th) and getting credit (44th), among the 190 countries surveyed. India’s worst rank was in dealing with construction permits, where it was placed 185th. It ranked 136th in resolving insolvency, 138th in registering property, 143rd in trading across borders and 172nd in both paying taxes and enforcing contracts.
Arindam Guha, partner at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, said it will be an uphill task to achieve the targets since it involves many stakeholders other than the central government.
“Government has to proactively pursue with the state governments and local bodies as well as the Supreme Court and high courts for necessary reforms. Between Delhi and Mumbai, the former has been an underperformer though the latter has picked up in recent times, especially in dealing with construction permits. This may prove to be a drag on India’s overall ranking,” he added.
This year’s budget allocated Rs272.48 crore under the scheme of investment promotion that will be spent on launching a 360 degree awareness campaign for better ease of doing business ranking and to attract investment in 25 sectors selected under Make in India.
DIPP has also involved the National Productivity Council and the United Nations Development Programme to conduct user feedback to evaluate the effectiveness of its reform measures.
To break into the top 50 in the World Bank ranking, India needs to set up fast-track commercial courts, dispose of cases quickly with minimum adjournments and establish e-courts for electronic filing of complaints, summons and payments, a government official said on condition of anonymity.
Aiming to make it easier to do business in India, finance minister Arun Jaitley in his 2017-18 budget presented on 1 February promised to simplify labour laws and abolish the foreign investment and promotion board (FIPB).
Jaitley announced legislative reforms to simplify, rationalize and amalgamate existing labour laws into four codes—wages, social security and welfare, industrial relations, and safety and working conditions.
The finance minister said a road map for scrapping the FIPB that scrutinizes foreign investment proposals will be announced soon as part of the government’s financial sector reforms.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the centre plotted an eight-point strategy to make it easier to do business in India. Departments will now hold stakeholder consultations for feedback on reforms undertaken, and also engage with respondents to ensure the reforms are implemented at the ground level. Each department will review progress every week in carrying out the necessary reforms.

Government Aims To Make India A Global Biotech Hub By 2020

New Delhi: The Minister of State for Science and Technology & Earth Sciences, Mr. Y. S. Chowdary, has said that biotechnology will be the leader among the knowledge based industries of the 21st century. He said producing affordable products will be major issue for India. He called for efforts to set up a proper ecosystem with sustainable systems, particularly in hubs of rural India. The Minister was speaking after inaugurating the 5th Foundation Day of Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), Department of Bio-Technology at New Delhi today.
Mr. Y. S. Chowdary, further said that – “Research and innovation has been one of the key areas emphasized by the Prime Minister. Globally, BIRAC has been hailed as one of the most effective government measures to create an enabling environment for research and development to flourish in a country. We aim to develop India into a global innovation hub by 2020 and BIRAC has paved the way to deliver on that mandate.”
The 5th Foundation Day themed ‘Impacting the Biotech Innovation Ecosystem’ was presided over by and attended by a large number of dignitaries from the scientific and industry sectors both from within the country and oversees.
BIRAC is a not-for-profit public sector enterprise, set up by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India which acts as an interface agency to support emerging biotech enterprises to undertake strategic research and innovation, to address nationally relevant product development needs. Through the course of five years, BIRAC has supported over 618 projects, 850 start-ups, entrepreneurs, biotech companies and organizations and 20 incubators across the country, resulting in over 66 products and technologies and 120 Intellectual property rights being generated.
BIRAC supports entrepreneurs and start-ups at different stages of innovation – from the ideation stage to managing intellectual property rights and finally to the commercialization of products. Different initiatives of BIRAC target different stages of the innovation ecosystem from ideation stages to proof-of-concept and late stage validation to product development. BIRAC has 9 flagship schemes that are supported by funding from the Department of Biotechnology, and manages 7 collaboratively funded programs with international partners, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Nesta, the Wellcome Trust and USAID, among others. Social Innovation is a key focus for affordable and accessible product development.
Dr. K. Vijay Raghavan, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology and Chairman, BIRAC said that Innovation and research must be directed toward addressing the most pressing problems of society. We’re proud that BIRAC and the Department of Biotechnology are spearheading this effort in the biotechnology domain. Since its inception in 2012, BIRAC has created nearly two dozen incubators across the country and supported over 350 start-ups. We firmly believe that social entrepreneurship is the key to creating an inclusive society and our government is committed to providing all the necessary support.
The science and technology sector will play a key role in the government’s Start-Up India Action Plan. The DBT, in line with the Start-Up India Action Plan has undertaken a number of initiatives centered on the three pillars of an ideal innovation ecosystem – funding, mentoring and capacity building, and the infrastructure to translate scientific research into commercial products. To this end, BIRAC implements its mandate through a wide range of high impact initiatives, providing access to risk capital through targeted funding, facilitating technology transfer, and supporting intellectual property management and handholding schemes for biotech firms to make them globally competitive.
Dr. Renu Swarup, Senior Adviser, Department of Biotechnology and Managing Director, BIRAC said that through initiatives such as Start-Up India and the Science and Technology for Harnessing Innovations or SATHI, the government is ushering in supportive policies and removing regulatory barriers to create an atmosphere of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country. The world as a whole stands to gain with Indian innovators stepping up and changing the way we address the grand challenges we face today. We are proud that BIRAC has created an enabling environment for the biotechnology industry to prosper.
The BIRAC Foundation will be followed by the Grand Challenges India Meeting to be held from 21st to 24th March, 2017 which will have the participation of BMGF, Wellcome Trust, USAID and Grand Challenges Innovators from Brazil, Canada, Bangladesh, Korea, South Africa, Kenya, Switzerland.