India's agri-biotech cliff

By: Seema Singh/Forbes India

The stalemate in agri-biotech is turning away investors

The 2013 budget gave agriculture a much-needed bonanza: Rs 500 crore for crop diversification; Rs 3,415 crore for agri-research. But with the Biotech Regulator Authority of India Bill pending before Parliament and the logjam on genetically modified (GM) crops, which has turned away industry and investors, agri-biotech is facing a cliff.


How many crops?
About 12 crops are ready for advanced testing in multiple locations, or for commercial release. These include:

• Food crops: Rice (including public sector golden rice), maize, sorghum, groundnut, sugarcane, brinjal, cabbage
• Non-food crops: Castor, cotton and rubber
• Research pipeline has 74 crops, including pomegranate, banana and papaya

The loss

• Complete deadlock for the past three years
• 50 proposals lying with the government
• Constitution of a new regulator
• No venture capitalist or private equity investments in the past three years, despite agri-biotech being the third largest revenue earner in the biotech industry.

• GM technology can help ensure bio-fortification (adding nutrients to crops).
• GM seeds cost 25% more, but less water and pesticides are required.
  

“While commercialisation of few GM crops is delayed as much as by five years, investment in R&D and infrastructure development is retarded, and many opportunities for FDI could potentially be lost. In order to eliminate the bottleneck, it is imperative that the Biotech Regulator Authority of India gets commissioned sooner”

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