CropLife India Welcomes Government’s Focus on R&D in Crop Protection

CropLife India, an association of 16 research-driven crop science companies, has expressed its appreciation for the interim Budget 2024-25, according to Krishi Jagran. The association welcomes the government’s emphasis on innovation and Research & Development (R&D) as an important step towards providing farmers with newer and environmentally friendly crop protection products.

Key highlights of the interim budget include a proposal for a 200% weighted deduction on R&D expenses by agrochemical companies, a call for a uniform basic customs duty of 10% for both technical raw materials and formulations, and a recommendation to reduce GST on agrochemicals from 18% to 12%

Durgesh Chandra, Secretary General of CropLife India, lauded the interim budget’s focus on promoting technologies and innovation in agriculture.

″While the interim budget has focused on the growth done towards the promotion of technologies and innovation in agriculture; the full Budget 2024-25 should look at reforms for augmenting the farmers’ income and overall growth of the sector. Indian farmers need newer & greener crop protection products. Formulation import of new for-India single molecules or their different combinations helps the farmers in combating resistance, climate change, and new invasive pests and in improving the competitiveness of Indian agricultural produce internationally. Once these new solutions get adopted by the farmers, local manufacturing commences and supports ‘Make in India’. Formulation imports are then converted to the manufacture of formulation and then to the manufacturing of the technical in India,″ Chandra stated.