The Biotechnology Information System (BTIS) has been established by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, to serve as a distributed database and network organisation. Presently, it is comprised of nine specialised Distributed Information Centres (DIC's) and twenty three User Centres established at various national R & D / institutions and Universities situated in different geographical locations of India. An Apex Centre in the Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi coordinates the BTIS network, also referred to as National Bioinformatics Network. This network provides an integrated information resource on various inter-disciplinary aspects of Biotechnology including :

    Hard Data - Molecular Biology databases, e.g. Nucleic Acid and Protein Sequence data, etc.,

    Soft Information - Bibliographic literature in Biotechnology, and

    Management Information - R & D Projects sponsored by DBT, Patents in Biotechnology, Profile of Research Activities in Biotechnology, and various other directories. Powerful biocomputing facilities have also been set up at five national institiutes for molecular modelling and allied applications of bioinformatics in biotechnology.