Biotechnology has been described as the last great technical innovation of markind in the century we have just left behind. The GoWB is committed to facilitate the development of research and applications in this field, which is expected to bring about significant benefits to the population. Biotechnology industry is the fastest growing industry in India with a growth rate of more than 35% in the last 3 years (last year 37.42%) and it has already reached up to US$ 1.45 billion n terms of revenue earning. West Bengal too is very strongl in this sector, which can be attributed to certain inherent advantages it has in this sector.

The West Bengal Government envisages, among other things, special incentives for early-bird investors, the policy is expected to boost research and investment in units involving medicinal plants, The policy announced today has scope for offering special incentives to investors setting up pharmaceutical and food processing units.

On the issue of genetically modified crops, the policy deals with bio-safety and ethical regulation Effective steps would be taken to form bio-ethical and bio-safety committees, which will advise on the introduction of specific transgenic plants for commercial agriculture.

One of the main objectives of the new policy was to create centres of excellence which wll have modern infrastructure for R & D activities. These centres will have online access to major institutes and corporate houses of the country.