The top five earners were Indian companies, which accounted for 27 per cent of the revenue, according to a survey by Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises and BioSpectrum.
The three companies were Pune-based Serum Institute (Rs 951 crore or Rs 9.5 billion), Bangalore-headquartered Biocon (Rs 823 crore or Rs 8.23 billion) and New Delhi based-Panacea Biotech (Rs 600 crore or Rs 6 billion).
The survey showed that homegrown companies led the biotech revenue sweepstakes and for the first time in five years, the top five companies were of Indian origin. For the second year in running, Serum improved its lead over the number two player Biocon to Rs 128 crore (Rs 1.28 billion) as against Rs 15 crore (Rs 0.15 billion) last year.
In the industry dominated by BioPharma companies, two Bioagri companies selling cotton seeds - Rasi seeds from Salem (Rs 333 crore or Rs 3.33 billion) and Hyderabad-based Nuziveedu Seeds (Rs 226 crore or Rs 2.26 billion) zoomed in at number four and five positions.
The Indian biotech industry is expected to attain a size of USD 5 billion in revenue by 2010 with a presence of 400 firms, dealing in 100 products, both domestic and imported.
The biopharma segment, accounting for over two-third of the industry, reported sales of Rs 5,973 crore (Rs 59.73 billion), a growth of 27 per cent. The bio services sector that accounts for 21 per cent of the industry registered a 53 per cent growth, according to the survey.
Bioagri sector, which forms 19 per cent of the industry, grew by 55 per cent while the bioinformatics and bioindustrial sectors recorded a growth of 21 and five per cent respectively.
