WEF Report on the Bioeconomy: Governments Are Investing Heavily, and India Shows Demand and Supply Growing Together
A new report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) says governments around the world are investing heavily in the bioeconomy, the part of the economy built on biology-based products and processes.
The report names India as the best example of a country where demand for bio-based products and the supply (capacity to make them) are growing together.
It calls for policy "portfolios" (sets of policies used together) that are designed to create demand, remove specific barriers to selling new bio-products commercially, and collect evidence of what works from the very start.
India's bioeconomy grew from about US$10 billion in 2014 to US$165.7 billion in 2024, and the government's target is US$300 billion by 2030.
India's main policy in this area is the BioE3 Policy, approved by the Union Cabinet in August 2024.
Bioeconomy and India's BioE3 Policy (2024)
The bioeconomy is the part of the economy that uses living things (plants, microbes like bacteria and yeast, animal cells) and biological processes to make products and services. Examples are vaccines, medicines, biofuels, enzymes used in detergents, bio-plastics and new kinds of food protein. India's main policy to grow this sector is the BioE3 Policy, which stands for Biotechnology for Economy, Environment and Employment. It aims to make India a leader in biomanufacturing, which means making products at factory scale using biology instead of chemicals from petroleum.
The WEF report praises India because policies like BioE3 and Bio-RIDE build supply (labs, hubs, start-up funding) while India's large market and growing industries create demand at the same time. Its call for policies that also create demand and remove commercial barriers points to the next step India's own experts recommend, such as government buying of bio-based products.
World Economic Forum (WEF)
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a Swiss not-for-profit foundation that brings together leaders from business, government, international organisations, universities and civil society to discuss global problems. It is best known for its Annual Meeting in Davos, a ski town in the Swiss Alps, held every January. It also publishes widely quoted reports and rankings, such as the Global Gender Gap Report and the Global Risks Report. The WEF is not a UN body and not a government organisation; it is funded mainly by its member companies.
The bioeconomy report is one of the WEF's research publications. Its finding that India's demand and supply are growing together, and its call for demand-creating policy portfolios, are the kind of policy recommendations the WEF regularly makes to governments and industry.
- WEF report: governments investing heavily in the bioeconomy; India named the best example of demand and supply growing together
- Recommendations: policy portfolios that create demand, address commercialisation barriers and generate evidence from the start
- India's bioeconomy: US$10 billion (2014) → US$165.7 billion (2024); about 4.25% of GDP
- Targets: over US$200 billion by 2027; US$300 billion by 2030
- BioE3 Policy approved 24 August 2024 (DBT nodal); six thematic sectors
- Bio-RIDE scheme: ₹9,197 crore, approved 18 September 2024
- Segment shares (2024): BioIndustrial 47%, BioPharma 35%, BioResearch 9%, BioAgri 8%
- Top states: Maharashtra (about US$35.45 billion), Karnataka (about US$32.4 billion)