Mapping India’s biomanufacturing potential for smart proteins

Overview

The BioE3 policy has accelerated biomanufacturing in the country, including its potential applications in smart protein. While building new dedicated smart protein facilities will be crucial to accelerate production, India can leverage its existing substantial fermentation and biomanufacturing base spanning food, industrial biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, bioethanol, enzymes, probiotics, and other applications. 

As fermentation-derived  proteins  move towards commercial scale, a significant portion of this existing biomanufacturing infrastructure could help minimise the time and capital required to build smart protein manufacturing capacity from scratch. 

Developed with Sathguru Management Consultants (SMC), this study maps fermentation-relevant manufacturing infrastructure across India and evaluates how different types of existing facilities could support scaling biomass- and precision-fermentation-derived smart proteins and ingredients in the country.

Key findings:

• India has a large but highly varied fermentation infrastructure base spanning approximately approximately 774,170 kL of capacity across 29 states, spanning bioethanol, distilleries, breweries, wineries, probiotics, biopharma, CDMOs, and enzymes segments. This capacity varies substantially in scale, technical specifications, utilisation, and suitability for smart protein production. 
• Some existing food-grade facilities could support biomass fermentation: Food-grade fermentation facilities, specifically probiotics, yeasts, wineries, breweries and distilleries, may support biomass fermentation through retrofitting or repurposing idle capacity for smart protein production. Many of these are already highly utilised, with breweries and distilleries operating at approximately 80–90% utilisation. However, even engaging a modest share of the relevant estimated idle capacity might be enough to achieve the current market demand. The 2025 global market size for lactoferrin could be addressed by engaging just 12% of precision fermentation-relevant idle capacity. Similarly, engaging 26% of biomass fermentation-relevant capacity to produce yeast protein could address its 2025 global market size.
• CDMOs and biopharmaceutical manufacturers offer advanced capabilities for precision fermentation: These facilities often have controlled bioreactors, process development, and downstream purification capabilities. With an estimated utilisation of 50-60%, some facilities have greater idle capacity that could potentially support precision fermentation-derived smart protein production, although food-grade requirements and commercial considerations will determine feasibility. 
• Bioethanol regions could support future growth: Bioethanol production capacity is the largest amongst the mapped industries, comprising approximately 66% of the estimated total capacity mapped in the study. Retrofitting these non-food-grade ethanol facilities for smart protein biomanufacturing might not be commercially feasible. Instead, established bioethanol sites are a promising option for co-locating greenfield food-grade fermentation facilities, providing access to existing upstream supply chains for feedstocks, utilities, industrial infrastructure and talent.
• Manufacturing clusters are emerging across India: The study identifies 29 fermentation clusters across 19 states, with approximately 40% of mapped clusters’ capacity concentrated in the ten largest clusters. Bengaluru Urban + Tumakur + Ramanagara + Chikkaballapur, and Ahilyanagar + Pune + Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar + Nashik clusters stand out for their diverse manufacturing capabilities and broader ecosystem potential.