Natural polymers are widely utilized in pharmaceutical and food industries. Starch, a major carbohydrate is a staple food in human and animal diets which is simply extractable from various sources, like potato, maize, corn, wheat, etc. It is widely used as a raw material in various food and non food industries as well as in paper, textile and other industries. This article summarizes the starch and modification of starch and to produce a novel molecule with various applications in industries including number of advances in pharmaceutical industry. The unique characteristics of starch and their modified form can be successfully used as drug delivery carriers in various pharmaceutical preparations. It is widely used as controlled and sustained release polymer, tablet disintegrant, drug delivery carrier, plasma volume expander and also finds its applicability in bone tissue engineering and in artificial red cells. It also includes the patents related to starch and modified starch based products and their commercial utility.