India’s biotech growth needs more long-term capital, says expert

India’s biotech ecosystem has grown significantly in recent years, with the country now having more than 2,500 biotech startups, but capital investment without expectations of quick results and stronger links between research and commercialisation are important for the sector’s next phase of growth, said Ajay Mahipal, co-founder and general partner, HealthKois.

In a conversation with Serena Josephine M., Special Correspondent, The Hindu, at the Biotech Conclave 2026 presented by VIT Chennai in association with The Hindu, Mr. Mahipal said India had moved beyond being primarily a manufacturing base and was gradually emerging as a hub for biotech innovation. “We are now seeing quality startups that are essentially trying to accelerate this journey,” he said.

Areas such as cell and gene therapy, precision medicine, genomics, AI-enabled drug discovery, microbiome and immunology-driven therapeutics were attracting growing interest from investors. However, funding remained a key challenge, he said.

Researchers needed to adopt an “end-to-end mindset”, looking beyond research to intellectual property, commercialisation, adoption, and monetisation. Patents in India had increased four-fold over the past decade, he said, adding that researchers needed to protect their IP and think about commercialisation early.

For young biotech entrepreneurs, he said solving a clearly defined problem, addressing a sufficiently large market and having a clear monetisation strategy were important to attract investment.

Mr. Mahipal said collaboration between universities, hospitals, startups, and industry was improving but remained a “work in progress”. He urged young researchers to leverage the growing ecosystem, find good mentors and “keep the commercial hat on” while pursuing their ideas.