MICROPROPAGATION INDUSTRY IN INDIA: BIOLOGY AND BUSINESS

Micropropagation industry was identified as a priority area by the Government of India. Over the last 15 years the Ministry of Science and Technology has supported 150 projects for R&D and field demonstration in nearly 80 different universities/Research Institutes. The strong R&D support from the Ministry of Science and Technology and favourable policies of the Ministries of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture, Government of India, encouraged entrepreneurs and technocrats to set up more than 50 commercial laboratories between 1987 and 1995, with a total installed capacity of 210 million plants per annum. It was seen that from 1986-1989 the targets achieved were 50% of the installed capacity. In 1991, there was a decline and only 20% of target was achieved. In 1996, there was a drastic reduction in the number of plants with regard to an increase in the number of units. The history of commercialization in India is a story of ‘Rise and Fall, and Rise Again’. The percentage increase in production decreased by 50 percent from 1991 to 1994 and in 1998 there was a negative percentage showing rapid decline. However, between 1999 till date there has been an average of 35% rise in tissue culture production per year. This trend resulted into better capacity utilization of the existing facilities by 2002; and additional facilities are now being set up to increase the total installed capacity in the country to 300 million plants per annum. To facilitate the commercialization further, the Government of India has set up a National Facility for Virus Diagnosis and Quality Control of Tissue Culture plants, at New Delhi with 5 satellite centers catering the needs of the tissue culture industries in various parts of the country. A concerted effort is being made by the Government and the industries to ensure that Plant Tissue Culture, a technology with enormous commercial potential, would be an important industrial activity during the 21st century.