MUMBAI (Reuters) - Drugmaker Nicholas Piramal India Ltd NICH.BO said on Friday its research unit has tied up with the Department of Biotechnology to identify biological molecules that can be developed into drugs to treat various diseases.

NPIL Research & Development Ltd, which was recently de-merged from Nicholas Piramal, plans to invest 70 million rupees in the project estimated to cost about 250 million rupees. The remaining expense will be borne by the Department of Biotechnology.

"The project will lead to the selection of potential candidate molecules, which will be taken to process scale-up strategies with appropriate partners," Nicholas Piramal said in a statement.

"There are hopes that a bank of novel leads with specific potential will soon be developed. This will aid in the long-drawn process of drug discovery."

The project involves nine other institutes besides Nicholas Piramal and will work at screening molecules for anti-cancer, anti-infective, anti-diabetes and anti-inflammation properties.

Typically, it takes 10-15 years to develop a new drug with investments running as high as $800 million.

(Reporting by Bharghavi Nagaraju; Editing by Ramya Venugopal)