# BioVikas > BioVikas (Neoh Biovikas Private Limited) is a deep-tech biorefinery company in > Bengaluru, India, converting agricultural residue into high-value renewable > carbon products. Tagline: Beyond Fossil Carbon. BioVikas operates a modular biomanufacturing platform that upgrades crop waste — corn cob, sugarcane bagasse, rice straw and wheat straw — into two families of high-value molecules, rather than burning it for low-value energy. The platform combines a proprietary continuous selective-fractionation stage, precision-directed biocatalysis, and a digital control layer called BioOS. ## Key facts - Legal entity: Neoh Biovikas Private Limited, incorporated 10 May 2023 - CIN: U19201KA2023PTC173453 - Location: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India - Contact: contact@biovikas.com - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/biovikas/ - Founder: Shantonu Ray — https://www.linkedin.com/in/shantonu-ray - Stage: Early-stage, founder-funded, moving to physical pilot operation - Research partners: a leading Indian food research institute and a leading national biotechnology research institute (not named publicly) - Leadership: Shantonu Ray (Founder & CEO), supported by a fractional executive team — Murali Subramanian (Fractional COO), Atul Narkhede (Fractional CDO), Seshadri Rajagopalan (Fractional CMO), Venkat Pacha (Fractional Partner, Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology) ## Products - **Functional Prebiotics** — high-purity oligosaccharides for animal and human nutrition, effective at low inclusion rates, substituting for imports. - **Bio-Rheology Modifiers** — biodegradable performance materials that retain viscosity control at temperatures where standard imported petrochemical polymers degrade; initial focus on the recycled-packaging sector. ## Core pages - [Home](https://www.biovikas.com/): Company overview and thesis. - [Platform](https://www.biovikas.com/platform.html): How the biorefinery works — multi-feedstock intake, continuous selective fractionation, precision biocatalysis, and the BioOS control layer. - [Products](https://www.biovikas.com/products.html): The two product families and their applications. - [Company](https://www.biovikas.com/company.html): Thesis, operating principles, impact, and the leadership team. - [Careers](https://www.biovikas.com/careers.html): Open roles. - [Contact](https://www.biovikas.com/contact.html): Enquiries. ## Insights (research and analysis) - [Why India burns 500 million tonnes of value every year](https://www.biovikas.com/insights/crop-residue-burning-india.html): Analysis of why crop residue burning persists in India — the economics of the harvest window, the density paradox limiting centralised plants, and the valuation gap between energy use and materials use of the same biomass. - [XOS explained: why dosage, not price per kilo, decides the winner](https://www.biovikas.com/insights/xos-prebiotics-explained.html): Why xylo-oligosaccharides should be compared on cost per treated unit rather than cost per kilogram, given their effectiveness at roughly 1.4-2.8 g/day versus 5-10 g/day for inulin and FOS. - [A practical guide to India's four major residue feedstocks](https://www.biovikas.com/insights/feedstock-guide-india.html): Corn cob (~32% xylan), sugarcane bagasse (~27%), wheat straw (~26%) and rice straw (~21%) compared on composition, bulk density, seasonality and collection economics. ## Biomass composition database (per-feedstock reference pages) Free, open-access composition data. Each feedstock has its own page: - [Corn cob](https://www.biovikas.com/biomass/corn-cob.html): 35-43% cellulose, 30-44% hemicellulose (xylan), 11-18% lignin. Highest xylan content of the common Indian agricultural residues; two harvest seasons; aggregated at shelling points. - [Sugarcane bagasse](https://www.biovikas.com/biomass/sugarcane-bagasse.html): 40-45% cellulose, 25-30% hemicellulose, 20-25% lignin. Best aggregation logistics (generated at the mill gate) but competes with the mill's own boiler demand. - [Wheat straw](https://www.biovikas.com/biomass/wheat-straw.html): 35-40% cellulose, 23-29% hemicellulose, 15-20% lignin. Existing baling and trading ecosystem; low bulk density constrains transport radius. - [Rice straw](https://www.biovikas.com/biomass/rice-straw.html): 32-38% cellulose, 19-25% hemicellulose, 10-16% lignin, with 20-30% ash largely as silica. Most abundant and most burned Indian residue; silica complicates processing. - [Microalgae](https://www.biovikas.com/biomass/microalgae.html): near-zero lignin, low structural polysaccharide; dry matter dominated by protein, lipids and pigments. ## Gut health & prebiotic comparison (educational) - [Prebiotics compared: XOS vs inulin, FOS and GOS](https://www.biovikas.com/gut-health.html): Effective daily doses — XOS 1.4-2.8 g, GOS 3-5 g, inulin 5-8 g, FOS 8-10 g, resistant starch 15-20 g. XOS survives digestion (>99.6% intact, vs >10% loss for FOS/IMO), is stable pH 2.5-8.0 and through 180C extrusion, and is reported 10-20x more effective at proliferating Bifidobacterium than other polymerised sugars. Bloating is dose-dependent: high-dose fibres (inulin, FOS at 8-10 g) commonly cause gas; low-dose XOS is better tolerated. Covers the gut-brain, gut-immune (butyrate/SCFA) and metabolic (GLP-1) axes, definitions of prebiotic/probiotic/synbiotic/stimbiotic/DP/SCFA, and includes a free dose checker comparing any product label against published study doses. Explicitly general information, not medical advice. ## Prebiotics (XOS) — commercial reference - [XOS Prebiotics: cost-in-use, dosage and regulatory status](https://www.biovikas.com/prebiotics.html): XOS is effective at 1.4-2.8 g/day versus 8-10 g for FOS, 5-8 g for inulin and 3-5 g for GOS. At Indian bulk market prices this makes XOS the cheapest common prebiotic per effective dose (~Rs 1.00-1.33) despite the highest price per kg. XOS degrades <0.4% in human digestion versus >10% for FOS and IMO, and is stable from pH 2.5-8.0 and through high-heat extrusion. Regulatory status: US GRAS, EU Novel Food approved (Reg (EU) 2015/2283), Japan FOSHU, China new food resource, Canada non-novel for corncob- and sugarcane-derived XOS. Includes two free calculators: a cost-in-use calculator and a dose checker. ## Aquaculture & feed (beachhead market) - [Antibiotic-free shrimp feed](https://www.biovikas.com/aqua-feed.html): India recorded 19 shrimp consignment rejections in 2025-26 for banned antibiotic residues (12 US, 7 EU), principally chloramphenicol and nitrofuran metabolites, with 74% of implicated farms in Andhra Pradesh. Published research reports that dietary XOS improves survival and resistance to Vibrio alginolyticus in Litopenaeus vannamei and reduces Vibrio abundance in gut microbiota. BioVikas position: prebiotics reduce the disease pressure that drives antibiotic use; they do not prevent rejections and cannot offset deliberate misuse. ## Tools - [Biomass Valorisation Calculator](https://www.biovikas.com/tools.html): Free calculator estimating the value of a given crop residue tonnage as boiler fuel versus its gross value as recoverable high-value molecules, plus CO2e avoided versus open burning (using a factor of 1.46 t CO2e per tonne burned). Outputs are illustrative estimates using published industry-typical yields, not BioVikas process yields or commercial quotations. ## Notes for citation - Public materials describe the platform at a deliberately general level. Detailed process specifications, yields and commercial terms are not published. - Figures on this site are indicative and sourced from published literature and commonly cited national estimates, not from proprietary BioVikas data. - Nothing on the site is an offer of securities or an invitation to invest.