India's first BioFoundry comes up in Mohali
Rs 42-crore facility at NABI to bridge lab-to-industry gap in agri-food biotech, back smart protein and biomanufacturing push
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology Jitendra Singh on Thursday laid the foundation stone of India's first dedicated BioFoundry Centre under the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) at the National Agri-Food and Biomanufacturing Institute (NABI), Mohali.
The facility, to be built at a cost of approximately Rs 42 crore over the next two years, will serve as a national platform for developing and scaling advanced biomanufacturing processes — with a focus on smart proteins, bio-inputs, and bio-based products in agri-food biotechnology.
Addressing a gathering of scientists, researchers, industry representatives and innovators at BRIC-NABI, the Minister said the centre would help bridge the gap between laboratory research and industrial-scale applications, and strengthen India's fast-growing bioeconomy.
The BioFoundry will house large-scale fermenters, upstream and downstream processing systems, and high-throughput experimental platforms. It will support startups and industry through scale-up, pre-commercialisation and technology transfer, and also function as a skill development hub for young professionals in biotechnology, the Minister said.
Jitendra Singh said rising global protein demand and environmental concerns made alternative, sustainable solutions imperative. Smart proteins — developed through microbial fermentation, plant biotechnology and synthetic biology — offered a scalable pathway for the future of food, he added.
The Minister said India's bioeconomy was being backed by forward-looking frameworks such as BioE3 (Biotechnology for Economy, Environment and Employment), with synthetic biology and biomanufacturing central to meeting national objectives.
He said NABI was building capabilities across de novo smart protein design, microbial platforms and scalable production systems — creating an end-to-end pipeline from research to real-world application.
The foundation stone laying was part of a series of events at NABI that included the Biomanufacturing Workshop 4.0, the Smart Protein Forum 2026, and the BRIC-NABI Foundation Day celebrations.
