Draft Seeds Bill, 2025 — Feedback invited

The Centre has invited public comments on the Draft Seeds Bill, 2025, which seeks to modernize India’s seed regulation framework and replace the old Seeds Act, 1966 and the Seeds (Control) Order, 1983. The proposed law makes registration of all varieties mandatory and introduces stricter penalties—up to ₹30 lakh in fines and three years’ imprisonment—for selling spurious or unregistered seeds.

The reform is driven by persistent issues of substandard seeds, with over 43,000 samples found non-standard between 2022 and 2025. The Bill aims to ensure farmers’ access to high-quality, affordable seeds, regulate imports, and protect farmers from financial losses. It also seeks to decriminalize minor violations while maintaining strong action against serious offences.

The new Bill mandates registration of all varieties except traditional and export-only ones, requiring multi-location VCU testing to ensure quality. Dealers must obtain state registration and use QR-coded containers linked to a national Seed Traceability Portal for full tracking. A Central Accreditation System will ease compliance for large companies, though critics warn it favours corporates. Penalties range from ₹1 lakh for minor offences to ₹30 lakh and three years’ imprisonment for major ones. Farmers retain rights to save, exchange, and sell non-commercially, while new central and state committees will oversee regulation and enforcement.

Public feedback on the draft is open until December 11, after which it will be reviewed and presented to the Union Cabinet before introduction in Parliament. The government plans to table the Bill, along with the Pesticides Bill, during the upcoming Budget Session.

“The draft Seeds Bill, 2025 seeks to regulate their quality 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 stuff, protect farmers from losses, liberalize imports to promote innovation and access to global varieties, and safeguard the rights of farmers, ensuring transparency and accountability in supply chains,” a PIB release says.

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.

As part of the pre-legislative consultation process, the draft Seeds Bill, 2025, and the prescribed feedback format are available on the Ministry’s official website https://agriwelfare.gov.in.

All stakeholders and members of the public can submit their comments and suggestions on the draft Bill and its provisions. Feedback may be sent by email to jsseeds-agri@gov.in.

Farmer groups, experts, and civil society organisations contend that the proposed law primarily serves the interests of corporations and agribusinesses, rather than small and traditional farmers who depend on indigenous, chemical-free cultivation practices.

According to the Indian Express, reports of substandard seeds have been persistent and are frequently highlighted by agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. According to Minister of state for agriculture and farmers’ welfare Ramnath Thakur, 43,001 samples were found ‘non-standard’ between 2022 and 2025. West Bengal accounted for the highest share (62%), followed by Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh.

During the same period, a total of 5,97,859 samples were tested nationwide, with 43,001 failing quality standards. Enforcement actions included 12,287 warnings, 12,915 stop-sale orders, 1,914 FIRs, and 164 forfeitures.

For 2024–25, India’s annual seed requirement was estimated at 48.20 lakh tons, compared with an availability of 53.15 lakh tons. The country’s seed market is valued at around Rs40,000 crore. Between May 2014 and August 2025, 3,053 new varieties were released—85% from the public sector and 15% from the private sector, the newspaper reported.