India Focus: Waiting to jump on biotech bandwagon

It is the sunrise industry of today. Every one's hopes are pinned on to it. Students', professionals', farmers', cocktail party circuits', entire countries' and of course, the real estate industry's. Biotechnology is making waves the world over and can Bangalore, the city that prides itself on being at the cutting edge of technology be far behind?

Just like information technology at one point, it is now biotechnology that is filling up Bangalore's fast-polluting air. Every other college is offering courses in biotechnology.

Students who once considered themselves techno geeks are actually reading up on their biology and trying to find out the difference between dry labs and wet labs.

Socialites are dropping 'biotech' names like their next party depended on them and suddenly, it is the favourite topic of discussion at the family meal.

Even the so called IT geeks have been making subtle, unostentatious inquiries into how they could join the biotech bandwagon.

The real estate industry, as usual is keeping an ear to the ground. The area to the north of Bangalore is in the cross hairs.

Already blessed with sprawling campuses of the University of Agricultural Sciences, the Gandhi Krishi Vigynana Kendra (GKVK) and the Indian Institute of Science, the area has now attracted more attention after the government decided to announce the setting up of the 'biotech corridor' in the area.

There were, of course, the usual hitches. Plans for a 'biotech city' within the GKVK were quickly thwarted by students and staff and other interests, and the government had to look for land outside the campuses.

The annual Biotech fair, that took place for the second year recently, attracted a large number of biotech companies (both fledgling and veteran) and venture capitalists who showed a keen interest in the way matters were developing. Naturally, the real estate industry, too, is all excited.

One of the main differences with the IT industry is the biotech industry's need for space. In the IT industry, you put together a couple of computers and a server in a small kitchen and you had a dot com going.

It is not exactly so in the biotech sector. You need space for wet labs, for tissue cultures and for computers. Of course, there will be the garage start-ups who will make do with a couple of kitchen shelves, but by and large, space is needed.

"We expect a lot of activity in the north of Bangalore and are already negotiating as much as 40,000 square feet for a biotech company," says a prominent real estate dealer.

Adds another, "Bangalore North has always been an area of potential growth. Biotech companies will need large campuses and there are spaces available on the Bellary Road. In the next few months, land here will begin to sell at a premium."

An added attraction of Bangalore North is its connectivity. The six-lane highway project runs right through it. The outer ring road cuts across it, thereby making it easily accessible from both the east and the west sides of the city.

Further, with the Mekhri Circle grade separator already in place and the Hebbal flyover going on schedule, it will only be a matter of time before the area becomes totally accessible from all directions.

It has other attractions, too. The satellite town of Yelahanka is in this area, practically a stone's throw from the GKVK campus. There are several upmarket schools in the area and an adequate number of hospitals and other facilities.

The proposed international airport is in this area, as well. "In the next couple of years, as many as 3,000 to 5,000 people will be working in the biotech sector in Bangalore north," predicts Ramani Shastri, president of the Karnataka Ownership Apartments Promoters Association.

Obviously, they will need homes and it is only a matter of time that the real estate industry turns away from the flagging IT industry and jump on to the biotech bandwagon.

Kanchan Kaur is a Bangalore-based journalist specialising in property and real estate.