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Bt Cotton/GM trait royalty
What it is
Bt cotton, carrying inserted genes that express insecticidal proteins against bollworm, is the only GM crop approved for commercial cultivation in India and covers the overwhelming majority of cotton area
Seed companies license the trait and pay a trait fee, but both seed price and the licensing fee are capped by government order under the Cotton Seed Price Control Order rather than set by contract
Impact on industries
- Transformed cotton yields and reduced spray load on bollworm after 2002 approval, and remains the base technology for the entire cotton value chain
- Capped trait fees broke the licensing economics, contributing to withdrawal of newer traits and leaving India a generation behind on stacked traits
- Price control caps seed-company realisation on the largest row-crop opportunity in the country, so returns depend on volume and germplasm rather than technology
- Illegal herbicide-tolerant seed circulates widely outside the approval system, taking volume from licensed producers with no regulatory accountability