Muted growth and reduced funding impact biotech hiring

Muted growth and reduced funding impact biotech hiring

Funding options for bio tech companies as well as research firms have reduced considerably in the first half of  2013. This according to industry observers has impacted hiring.

“The funding for Indian biotechnology and R & D firms has witnessed a drop by almost 50 per cent. This has lead to either merger of several ventures or even close downs,’’ observes an ABLE source. “This has in turn impacted hiring across several key segments.”

The problem is that the term biotech encompasses a whole spectrum of businesses which are quite different in nature and hence the effect on HR too has been different. While biotech manufacturing has remained stagnant, biotech services has reported some growth. The only exception to this norm is the Indian Agri-tech segment which continues to hire due to a strong presence of Indian firms in the exports market.

Thus the Biotech sector as an employer witnessed muted growth in the first half of 2013.  Industry observers also attribute other reasons for the current state of affairs.

“The muted growth in biotech is due to a variety of reasons including the presence of several regulatory bodies, resistance to genetically engineered crops, lack of innovation and last but not the least some fly by night operators,” observes Rahul Nene Partner, DEININGER Management Consultants Pvt. Ltd.. “All these factors have negatively impacted hiring. The segment has remained a fashionable thing to just talk about.”

The other key factor affecting the growth of the Indian biotech industry is skill availability. While the experienced mid-segment continues to be in demand fresher hiring still remains a big problem area.

“The industry needs freshers to take on basic ground level responsibilities. And it is here that they are faced with setbacks. Communication a key requirement is an issue with almost all new hires. Also there is a big wide gap between theoretical learning and practical application and there is no focus yet on this aspect amongst our colleges,’’ observes Nene. “Of course this does not apply to graduates from reputed institutes but then this form about 0.1 % of the entry level employees.”

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