The seed industry is rife with speculation that the National Seed Association of India (NSAI) is bracing up for a vertical split. The association, with over 300 small and big companies across the country, will see a set of companies that rally behind Monsanto and Mahyco Monsanto Biotech Limited leaving it later today.
An industry source that a split is imminent as the association can’t have members with two different interests. Top representatives of 10 companies, including multinational companies, are meeting in Delhi later today to discuss a future course of action.
The list includes Monsanto, Bayer Biosciences, Dow AgroSciences India, DuPont Pioneer, Mahyco, Metahelix Life Sciences and Rasi Seeds. “They are likely to walk away from NSAI to form their own association,” the source said.
Incidentally, the meeting coincides with the annual general meeting of NSAI, which is also happening in Delhi today.
The association, which represents the industry with a size of Rs 15,000 crore, has been witnessing internecine fights for the last few years over the issue of cottonseed pricing and royalty fee component. Monsanto and Mahyco, which are joint venture partners in the MMBL that sub-licencss Monsanto’s Bollgard technology to Indian seed companies.
The conflict of interest between some members is so intense that some of them engaged in legal battles in several High Courts.
The government decision early this year to regulate the seed prices, royalty fee and to vet the licence agreements had intensified the differences. The ABLE-AG (which represents the MNCs that are doing biotech research in agriculture) had criticised NSAI for its ‘partisan’ approach and that the association didn’t represent its views.
The differences surfaced early this year with ABLE-AG writing to the government that they didn’t support NSAI’s views on cottonseed pricing issue. The NSAI had backed the government move to regulate the prices.
The government had issued a Gazette notification in May this year on cottonseed price regulation but withdrew it within days and solicited views from stakeholders. The deadline for submitting the feedback ended on May 24.
Incidentally, the same day Monsanto’s decision to withdraw RoundupReady Flex technology from India was reported.
In this backdrop, the Friday meeting of the MNC seed firms and the companies that back their views assume significance.