: "NEW DELHI: Riding on the success of Bt cotton, agriculture biotechnology has emerged as one of the fastest growing biotech industries in India in recent years, a latest report of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has said.

'It is the third largest contributor among various biotech sectors with total revenues of more than 229 million dollars in 2006-07 fiscal, registering a growth of 55 percent,' the report said.

Export revenue from agriculture biotechnology has grown to 11.6 million dollars in 2006-07 from around 8 million dollars in the previous year, it added.

The report, titled 'India Biotechnology' and prepared by Santosh Kumar Singh, claimed Bt cotton coverage has surged over the past five years to cover 70 percent of total cotton area in 2007. "