Seeds Bill finalised, likely to be introduced in Budget session

The Seeds Bill was supposed to be introduced in the last parliament session as announced by the agriculture minister, but it could not be done.
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MOHD ARIF

The government is believed to have finalised the Seeds Bill, 2026 and is keen to get it introduced in the Lok Sabha during the upcoming Budget session, scheduled to commence from January 28 and to continue until April 2, including a 25-day recess. No major changes are likely to be made in the draft Bill, which was shared in November 2025 for public feedback, sources said.

The existing Seeds Act, 1966 came into force in 1968-69 and was last amended in 1972, though changes were made from time to time in the Seed Control Order. There were many attempts made in the past to enact a new seed law, but it could not be passed due to lack of a consensus among political parties, as well as strong objections from farmer organisations.

The Seeds Bill was supposed to be introduced in the last parliament session as announced by the agriculture minister, but it could not be done. “The Bill 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,” the government had said.

Contentions remain

Sources said that the government may agree to send the Seeds Bill to the parliamentary panel if there is a demand, unlike the new rural job guarantee law VB-G RAM G Act, which was passed in a hurry in both Houses and immediately notified after President’s ascent.

One of the contentious provisions in the draft Bill is about compulsory registration by manufacturers for selling seeds. The government explained that it is meant to weed out fraudulent activities as some people are allegedly packing normal crops as seeds with labels after purchasing in mandis. On the other hand, critics alleged that it would wipe out small operators from the market and hand over the seed sector to big companies.

The draft Bill proposes major reforms starting from the process of registration to ensure availability of genuine seeds to farmers and keep a check on sales of spurious seeds by making it an offence with a penalty provision ranging between ₹50,000 for trivial offence to maximum ₹30 lakh for major repeat offences.

Minor offences decriminalised

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, it said. “No court shall take cognizance of any offence punishable under this Act, except upon a complaint filed by Seed Inspector appointed under Section 31,” the Bill said.

As the agriculture ministry has been speaking about fake and spurious seeds for quite sometime, there was apprehension about some stringent penalty. However, the current Bill has not proposed any draconian provision. “There is no word called fake seed in the draft and any synthetic material if passed on as seeds to cheat farmers may escape the ambit of the proposed law,” said an expert.

Companies/firms who “supply” any spurious seeds may be tried under major offence category, which leaves out onus of retailers who sell those seeds, an expert said. Suppliers of non-registered seed varieties and those in the business without dealer or distributor or producer registration are also to be considered as major offences. “Spurious seed” has been defined as “any seed which is not true to type or traits or does not meet minimum limit of genetic purity.”

Import restrictions ease

Taking cue from many importing countries of agri commodities, which certify labs in India to allow export from here, the government has for the first time, through the Bill, tried to regulate seeds import into India.

The last National Seed Policy, 2002 allowed free import of all seeds and planting materials, about which an industry expert said the government should have a new policy in line with the proposed law and the current domestic requirement.

According to Section 16 (3), “The Central Government may, on the recommendations of the (Central Seed) Committee, by notification, recognise any organisation established in territory outside India, for conducting trials to assess the Value for Cultivation and Use (VCU) of any kind or variety as may be prescribed.” Officials said it is meant to recognise foreign universities on a mutual basis and that companies will not be included under the provision.

The Section 27 said: “The Central Government may, on the recommendations of the Committee, by notification, recognise any Seed Certification Agency established in territory outside India, for such purposes as may be prescribed.” This will help regulate import as only those could be permitted if certified by an agency accredited by India, officials said.

Farmers’ unions criticise Bill

Criticising the draft Bill, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) has alleged that no seed or sapling can be sold in the market without registration and selling without registration will attract long imprisonment and heavy fines.

“Farmers need affordable seeds with assured good yields, in line with food security, to be available on time. None of these three things are even mentioned in the Bill. Besides, it says that import of seeds from foreign countries will be exempted and there will be no testing of their quality in India, their self-certification will be accepted. The government will not intervene in seed prices in the market,” SKM said in a statement Sunday.

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Published on January 11, 2026