# Two kilos of soil. ₹68 lakh. And a wake-up call for biotech
Author: BugSpeaks
Author URL: https://www.bugspeaks.com/blog/author/bugspeaks
Published: 2026-03-20
Category: General
Category URL: https://www.bugspeaks.com/blog/category/general
Tags: Microbiome research, Microbiome economy
Tag URLs: Microbiome research (https://www.bugspeaks.com/blog/tag/microbiome-research), Microbiome economy (https://www.bugspeaks.com/blog/tag/microbiome-economy)
URL: https://www.bugspeaks.com/blog/two-kilos-of-soil-indian-rupee68-lakh-wake-up-call

Somewhere in Maharashtra, a village just got [paid ₹68 lakh](https://www.downtoearth.org.in/wildlife-biodiversity/two-kilos-of-soil-with-a-rs-68-lakh-return-the-maharashtra-village-that-struck-biodiversity-gold).

Not for land. Not for crops.

For **2 kilograms of soil**.

Let that sink in.

A company isolated a bacterium from that soil, built a probiotic application around it, and under India’s biodiversity regulations, shared the commercial benefits with the community.

This is not just a good story.

This is a signal.

![Rs 68 Lakh for 2 kilos of soil ](https://prod.superblogcdn.com/site_cuid_cm7q7d3g20031nw4gwo5ye7m5/images/chatgpt-image-mar-20-2026-112011-am-1773986393016-compressed.png)

## We’ve been undervaluing biology

For decades, we’ve looked at soil as dirt.

At best, something to grow crops in.

But soil is not dirt.

It is one of the **densest biological data layers on the planet**.

Every gram contains:

- Billions of microbes

- Thousands of species

- Millions of genes

- Countless metabolic pathways


And we’re just scratching the surface.

If 2 kilos of soil can generate ₹68 lakh in downstream value, what is the value of:

- a farm?

- a forest?

- a city?

- a human gut?


We are sitting on biological gold mines and calling them ecosystems.

## This is what the microbiome economy actually looks like

We often talk about microbiome in abstract terms:

- Gut health

- Probiotics

- Research papers


But this story translates it into something tangible:

From Discovery to Product to Revenue and finally to Benefit Sharing

This is the pipeline.

And importantly, it introduces a concept that India is uniquely positioned to lead:

### Biological assets as economic assets

Not just extracted.

Not just exploited.

But **shared**.

## India has an unfair advantage here

If you think about it, India is probably one of the richest countries in the world when it comes to microbial diversity.

- Different diets

- Different climates

- Different soils

- Different lifestyles


And most importantly:

**A massive, underexplored microbiome dataset across humans and environments**

While the West has built strong capabilities in sequencing and analytics, India has something far more fundamental:

**Raw biological diversity**

The question is — are we going to study it, own it, and build on top of it?

Or will we let others come, sample, sequence, and commercialise it?

## **This changes how we should think about sampling**

At Leucine Rich Bio, we think a lot about samples.

Gut samples.

Skin samples.

Environmental samples.

But this story reinforces something deeper:

Every sample is not just data.

It is potential IP.

That changes how you design:

- Consent frameworks

- Benefit-sharing models

- Data ownership

- Long-term storage


Because what looks like a “sample” today could be:

- A probiotic tomorrow

- A drug target next year

- A billion-dollar pathway in a decade


## **The bigger opportunity**

Imagine this at scale:

- Mapping microbial diversity across India

- Linking microbes to function (metabolites, pathways, health outcomes)

- Building proprietary datasets

- Discovering novel strains

- Creating India-origin probiotics, enzymes, therapeutics


And crucially:

**ensuring communities benefit when value is created**

This is not just science.

This is **nation-building through biology**.

## **Final thought**

We keep looking for the next big breakthrough in biotech.

Maybe it’s not in a billion-dollar lab.

Maybe it’s already under our feet.

In 2 kilos of soil.

The real shift is not technological.

It’s perspective.

Once you start seeing biology as **data + IP + economic value**, everything changes.

And we are only just getting started.

-Kumar Sankaran

Also Read: [How Can Microbes Flush Out Toxins from Your Body?](https://www.bugspeaks.com/blog/how-can-microbes-flush-out-toxins-from-your-body/)


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