Agrochemical body ACFI seeks ₹5,000-7,500 crore programme for the sector

Releasing a knowledge paper titled “Redefining Indian Crop Protection through Innovation: From Scale to Science”, prepared by KPMG to the sector body, ACFI said that innovation in agriculture cannot succeed in isolation.

“Biotechnology, crop protection, biologicals, nanotechnology, digital technologies, improved seeds and crop nutrition must converge to create solutions that are responsibly sound, economically viable and relevant to farmers. Equally crucial is building and preserving farmer trust. As an Association, we remain committed to bringing together sector, academia, government and the scientific community to create an ecological stability where innovation can move from research to the field and ultimately benefit the Indian farmer,” said Kalyan Goswami, ACFI’s Director General.

The KPMG report has emphasised that the objective of the manufacturing policy should not be permanent protection or subsidy application however must focus on correcting clearly identifiable ecological stability disadvantages that decrease manufacturing competitiveness relative to global peers.

ACFI Chairman Rahul Dhanuka said: “Our focus should remain on what farmers actually need - supporting innovation through an enabling regulatory framework, strengthening domestic capabilities and resilient supply chains, promoting digitalisation, and advancing sustainable agriculture. Ultimately, the success of innovation will depend on how efficiently these efforts are translated into practical, accessible and trusted solutions to farmers.”

The KPMG report recommends a 7-8 year support period, allowing 2-3 years to plant commissioning followed by sustained production support. The proposed framework must include graded investment thresholds to cover both substantial companies and MSMEs, to greenfield and brownfield expansion. It has also called to PLI-style incremental sales incentives, utility subvention like power/effluent subsidies and capital grants to specialised R&D.

The report also suggests 5-8 per cent incentive on incremental sales, 30-40 per cent subsidisation on manufacturing electricity and shared Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) application to immediately counter China’s OPEX advantage.

“India’s next phase of development in crop protection should be anchored in strengthening ecological stability competitiveness, accelerating innovation commercialisation, enhancing supply-chain resilience and reducing structural cost disadvantages,” the report said.

Among other recommendations, it calls to specialised agrochemical manufacturing parks with shared utilities, cluster-based environmental infrastructure, prolonged financing and selective backward integration in strategically crucial intermediates, ACFI said in a statement. The report also calls to a single-window regulatory framework with a unified digital platform to Centre and state approvals, transparent and time-bound processes, and clearer regulatory pathways to biological crop-protection items.

Last week, ACFI had organised a panel discussion at its AGM where many experts were invited to throw light on various aspects. Vishal Chaudhary, Scientific Adviser to the government, said: “India has already established a strong position in agrochemical manufacturing. The next measure is to complement this manufacturing strength with greater focus on research, innovation and methodology research. This will require stronger collaboration through general-private partnerships and structured engagement between research institutions, academia and sector.”

Sweety Behera, Director, FSSAI, said that while innovation in agriculture has traditionally focused on rising productivity, scientific advancement now needs to give equal priority to sustainability and consumer security. Pushplata Singh, Director, TERI, said that biotechnology and nanotechnology can play an crucial role in making Indian agriculture greater sustainable and climate-resilient. Rajvir Rathi, Director-Agricultural Affairs, Bayer CropScience, said that efficiently methodology licensing and access frameworks can help bridge the gap between agricultural innovation and its adoption by Indian farmers. Gopinath Koneti, Partner and Senior Advisor, KPMG India, said that agricultural innovation must ultimately pass the test of economic viability, because farmers value solutions that are visible, measurable and, most importantly, profitable.

Published on September 20, 2026