India aims to generate employment for over one million scientists and engineers in the next five years, with an estimated business of $9billion, CII national task force on biotechnology and chairperson Bicon India Kiran Mazumdar Shaw said on Thursday.

Delivering the keynote address on India's 'biovision' at the Global Entrepreneurship conference 'Leading the World: Building a Technology Tiger' organised by the Stanford Asia Technology Initiative, she said, the $9 billion would include a $5 billion strong domestic business and $4 billion in exports.

Shaw said the Indian biotech market during the current year was estimated at $500 million from about 200 firms.

Of the $4 billion exports projected by 2007-08, she said, $1.5 billion would be for clinical research, $1 billion in research and development outsourcing and $1.5 billion in clinical sciences.

The advantage for India, Shaw said, is its enormous intellectual capital, with about 30 lakh (3 million) graduates in life sciences, 700,000 post-graduates and 1,500 PhDs in biosciences and engineering.

"It is estimated that nearly 15 per cent of the scientists in pharmaceuticals and biotech R&D in the US are Indians, " Shaw said, adding that information, imagination and innovation were the drivers for the biotech industry.

"We have information, the curve is lower in imagination and we are doing good in innovation with start-up firms emerging in the sector," she said.

In the clinical research and trials field, Shaw said India's bio-processing skills, with past experience in fermentation and purification, would help in developing vaccines, therapeutics and recombinant medicines.