The current supply shortfall in Bt cotton seeds is offering a conducive environment for grey-market operators, who are using the opportunity to sell unapproved or sub-standard material to farmers racing against time to plant.
The so-called “illegal” seeds being marketed include F-2 and other material not meeting the prescribed minimum 75 per cent germination rate or Bt gene expression standards. The market for these seeds – sold under localised bands such as ‘Maha Anmol', ‘Lotus 55', ‘Dinkar 7' and ‘Vishwas' – is said to be particularly strong in Gujarat and parts of Punjab-Haryana.
The main reason for the thriving grey market this time is the increase in the MRPs of regular Bt hybrids: From Rs 650 to Rs 830 for seed packets incorporating Monsanto's Bollgard-I or single-gene technology and from Rs 750 to Rs 930 for Bollgard-II or dual-gene trait. In Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, the new MRPs are Rs 825 for Bollgard-I and Rs 1,000 for Bollgard-II, against their earlier levels of Rs 750 and Rs 925.
Moreover, even the revised MRPs have proved illusory, with many farmers shelling out much more or having to wait in serpentine queues to procure their packets. This has provided ample margins for the parallel market to supply at a significant discount to the going rate for ‘genuine' Bt seeds.
Out of the 380 lakh legal Bt cotton packets likely to be sold this year, the industry expects 80 per cent to consist of Bollgard-II, with Bollgard-I and other alternate gene constructs making up the rest. At an average MRP of Rs 900, it would amount to a market of Rs 3,420 crore. To this, the grey market would probably add another 10-12 per cent.