The Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI), the apex trade association representing India’s top agrochemical manufacturers and R&D leaders, has issued a stark warning against granting data exclusivity for agrochemicals, saying it threatens both India’s farm economy and global export leadership.
“Our members account for around 70% of India’s agrochemical exports to over 167 countries and are among the top three exporters globally. Over the last five years, India earned a trade surplus of $16 billion from agrochemical exports,” CCFI highlighted in a white paper shared with Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, by Nirmala Pathrawal, Executive Director of CCFI.
Titled “Data Exclusivity: Highly Detrimental to India’s Farm Economy and Agrochemicals Export”, the paper presents 10 reasons opposing the move, emphasizing that 90% of the global agrochemical market consists of generics. “Granting data exclusivity to post-patent and old agrochemicals is detrimental to India’s interest. It will only delay the launch of new generics by Indian companies and gradually erode their global competitiveness,” the document states.
The white paper references multiple Parliamentary Standing Committee reports, including the 88th report (2008) and the 36th Committee report (2021), which warned that “the patent monopoly for 20 years itself is considered too long to block genuine competition. Encouraging obsolete technologies and protecting them with longer patent term is not advisable.”
CCFI also notes that neither the Insecticides Act of 1968 nor the Pesticides Management Bill (drafts 2017 and 2020) includes provisions for data exclusivity. The federation cites Article 39.3 of the TRIPS Agreement, which does not mandate exclusive rights for regulatory data, highlighting that historical proposals for data exclusivity by the USA and European Community were opposed by India and ultimately rejected.
The paper further accuses foreign MNCs of abusing patent rights by holding patents on new pesticide molecules in India but failing to commercialize them domestically. “For every ten patents granted since 2010 to the western MNCs for new pesticide molecules, six have not been commercially introduced in India though they were promptly commercialized in other countries,” CCFI notes.
Senior Advisor Harish Mehta warned, “Allowing data exclusivity would create a strong monopoly beyond patents, delay introduction of generics, raise prices and hurt the farm economy and agrochemical exports. Data exclusivity should not be granted in India, as other countries which rely on India’s supply will also suffer. It will considerably erode our export competitiveness.”
The white paper stresses that data exclusivity is not necessary to introduce new molecules. “In the last two years, as many as 36 new pesticide molecules were registered in India. This is a record high, and it is higher than the registrations in countries that have granted data exclusivity such as Brazil, Malaysia, Thailand,” it states.
CCFI also highlights the risks for small farmers, noting that “availability, accessibility, and affordability of new agrochemicals are critical factors that directly influence farms’ productivity, profitability, and overall livelihood. Experience shows that data exclusivity failed to ensure this.”
The federation points to India’s global leadership, noting that the country is now among the top three agrochemical exporters, up from fifth a decade ago, ahead of France and Germany. Introducing data exclusivity, CCFI argues, would be “retrograde counter to ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ by potentially hindering global supply chain integration” and could allow foreign interests to exploit Indian farmers in the absence of generic competition.
“Data exclusivity is a weapon in the hands of vested interests to weaken India’s export-intensive generic agrochemical industry,” the white paper concludes.
