Beyond USD 300 Billion: India’s Bioeconomy Needs a 360-Degree Approach

Global estimates suggest biosolutions could create nearly EUR 900 billion in value. For India, this is not just an opportunity, it is a strategic pathway to achieving resilience. With its vast agricultural base, strong scientific talent, growing industrial capability, India is uniquely positioned to lead the next wave of the bioeconomy.

July 16, 2026. By News Bureau

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articles

Novonesis

Krishna Mohan Puvvada

India’s Bioeconomy

Compressed Biogas

Horizontal Expansion

Sustainable aviation fuel

360-Degree Vision

Trillion-dollar bioeconomy

At an inflection point shaped by geopolitical uncertainty and energy volatility, 2026 will likely be remembered as the year India’s bioeconomy found renewed momentum. In the aftermath of supply disruptions and price shocks arising from the West Asia conflict, biology has emerged both as a strategic alternative and a key pillar for India’s economic resilience.

This resurgence has been most visible in bioenergy. Accelerated ethanol blending and the scaling up of compressed biogas (CBG) have reinforced India’s ambition to reduce fossil fuel dependence and advance energy security. These incremental gains represent a structural shift towards our approach to India’s bioeconomy.

As India marks one year since announcing its USD 300 billion bioeconomy vision, it is worth stepping back and looking at our pace of progress. At the current pace, the USD 300 billion milestone is within reach, perhaps even ahead of schedule. Success, however, cannot be defined by scale alone. A truly successful bioeconomy is measured in outcomes: cleaner air, safer food, healthier soils, and improved livelihoods.

From Scale to Impact: The Case for Horizontal Expansion

India’s progress so far has been largely vertical, deepening within the bioenergy segment. The next phase must complement this with horizontal expansion across sectors, embedding biosolutions into everyday life, from farms to factories to households.

One of the most promising areas for such horizontal expansion is biologicals in agriculture. Biological inputs like beneficial microbes, biofertilisers and biostimulants, can help farmers grow more with fewer synthetic fertilisers and hard chemicals all while reducing our import bill. These bio-based inputs can support the development of crops that need less water, withstand higher temperatures and resist pests more naturally.

Another critical frontier is in food, As Indian consumers are increasingly becoming health conscious, they are looking for food that is safer, with lesser chemical inputs and a cleaner label output. Natural antimicrobials produced by safe microbes, for instance, can extend shelf life, reduce spoilage and improve safety without synthetic ingredients.

Biosolutions also offer a practical way to substitute or reduce fossil fuel–based chemicals across industries and in household care. Enzyme-based detergents, for instance, can clean effectively at lower temperatures with fewer harsh surfactants, cutting both chemical use and energy bills. In manufacturing, bio-based solvents, coatings and process aids can replace petroleum-derived inputs while lowering emissions.

Policy as a Force Multiplier

To unlock this horizontal growth, India needs to align policy, regulation and markets with its ambitions. Regulations must keep pace with innovation. Approval pathways for biological inputs, new bio-based materials and natural food preservatives are still often long, fragmented and unclear. Dedicated, time-bound approval tracks with clear safety and performance criteria would give businesses confidence to invest.

Building the Next Growth Engines

Achieving depth for the bioeconomy is just one part of the story. The second part, achieving breadth, is also rapidly taking shape. Our next phase of growth will be built on new verticals. Examples of such verticals include Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), biogas and carbon capture, which can help India address hard-to-abate emissions while creating new industries.

Aviation is one of the toughest sectors to decarbonise, and SAF is among the few practical levers available today. For India, SAF can reduce dependence on imported jet fuel, create value from agricultural residues and waste oils, and position our refineries and biofuel companies as global suppliers in an expanding market. Biogas, another powerful bridge between today’s challenges and tomorrow’s opportunities, can serve as clean cooking fuel, vehicle fuel and a source of electricity and heat should the infrastructure and supply chains are strengthened.

In parallel, another interesting example is around carbon capture, especially enzymatic approaches that harness biology, is emerging as a strategic frontier. Whether it is microbes that help lock carbon into soils and materials, or bio-based processes that convert emissions into valuable products, India can build new value chains around carbon itself. Over time, such solutions can help balance emissions from sectors that are difficult to decarbonise, without slowing economic growth.

What Needs to Happen Next

In the near term, India should consolidate its gains in biofuels while rapidly scaling industrial bioprocessing, and bio agriculture through focused research support, fast and predictable approvals, and large-scale field demonstrations. Regulations should be updated to be science-based and streamlined, and labelling should be improved so that consumers and farmers can recognise and trust bio-based products. Emission and waste standards should be tightened in a calibrated manner, creating strong demand for cleaner technologies.

In the medium-to-long term, India must invest ahead of the curve in emerging verticals such as SAF, biogas and carbon capture. This can be done by way of recognising established pathways to SAF, creating offtake mechanisms, and de-risking institutional financing for biogas, and clearly identifying possibilities and pathways, including biological pathways to climate capture. Embracing innovation will power India towards its goal of Viksit Bharat by 2047.

The Bigger Opportunity: From USD 300 Billion to a Trillion-Dollar Bioeconomy

Global estimates suggest biosolutions could create nearly EUR 900 billion in value. For India, this is not just an opportunity, it is a strategic pathway to achieving resilience. With its vast agricultural base, strong scientific talent, growing industrial capability, India is uniquely positioned to lead the next wave of the bioeconomy.

A 360-Degree Vision for 2047

If India can combine depth in existing sectors like bioenergy and agriculture and breadth across emerging areas like SAF, biogas, carbon capture and other emerging sectors, the USD 300 billion milestone will become a stepping stone not the destination. The real goal is a trillion-dollar bioeconomy by 2047: one that delivers cleaner air and water, resilient farms, and safer, and healthier food systems.

- Krishna Mohan Puvvada, Regional President, Middle East, India & Africa, Novonesis