Centre releases draft Seeds Bill; industry welcomes; farm outfits cautious

After two failed attempts in the past by the United Progressive Alliance and National Democratic Alliance governments in 2004 and 2019, the Centre has brought in yet another draft Seeds Bill.

The Union Agriculture Ministry said the draft is aligned with current agricultural and regulatory requirements. The proposed legislation is intended to replace the existing Seeds Act, 1966 and the Seeds (Control) Order, 1983. While the seed industry welcomed the move, farmer organisations reminded the Centre that it had to withdraw the Bill on two occasions following their resistance.

The Centre said in a release that the draft Seeds Bill, 2025 seeks to regulate the quality of seeds and planting materials available in the market; ensure farmers’ access to high-quality seeds at affordable rates; curb the sale of spurious and poor-quality seeds; protect farmers from losses; liberalise seed imports to promote innovation and access to global varieties; and safeguard the rights of farmers, ensuring transparency and accountability in seed supply chains. “On the enforcement side, the draft Bill proposes to decriminalise minor offences, thereby promoting ‘Ease of Doing Business’ and reducing compliance burden, while maintaining strong provisions to penalise serious violations effectively,” the government said.

All stakeholders and members of the public can submit their comments and suggestions on the draft Bill and its provisions by December 11, 2025.

As per the draft, every dealer and distributor in seeds “shall obtain a registration certificate from the State government before selling, keeping for sale, offering to sell, importing or exporting, or otherwise supplying any seed by himself or by another person on his behalf”. The draft law also provides regulation of the sale of seeds so that seed varieties conform to the minimum limit of germination, genetic purity, physical purity, traits, seed health and other seed standards specified in the ‘Indian Minimum Seed Certification Standards’.

“The Central Government may, by notification, permit to import of an unregistered kind or variety in such quantity and subject to fulfilling such conditions as may be specified therein for research and trial purposes,” the draft said. The draft also defines the constitution and roles of Central and State seeds committees.

Talking to The Hindu, senior functionary of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), Pavel Kussa, said the Centre should remember that it had to withdraw the Bills twice following farmers’ protests. “On both occasions, the Bills were anti-farmer and pro-imperialist corporate multinational companies. This time too, we do not expect the government to be different, as there have been a number of anti-farmer policies from the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government. On the face of it, this Bill favours seed companies and facilitates ease of business for such companies. We will study the draft Bill and make our position known to the government and the public,” Mr. Kussa said.

Ajai Rana, chairman, Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII), said the release of the draft was a timely and much-needed step toward modernising India’s seed regulatory framework. Welcoming the draft, he said the initial reading of it indicates, particularly, a recognition system for research-based companies and enhancing the ease of doing business. “These measures will further streamline the sector while ensuring strong safeguards against serious violations. FSII is examining the draft in detail and will officially submit its comments by the deadline given,” he added.