Digital Sequence Information poses new challenges to benefit-sharing regimes. Examine India's stake in the global DSI debate in the context of GBF Target 13.

Digital Sequence Information (DSI) is the genetic code of an organism stored as data. It lets a firm use a gene without ever handling the seed. Kunming–Montreal GBF Target 13 extends fair benefit-sharing to genetic resources, DSI and associated traditional knowledge (TK) by 2030 [1]. India is a megadiverse provider country, and DSI threatens a regime built on tracing physical samples.

Challenges DSI poses to benefit-sharing

• No access point: Nagoya-style ABS regulates physical access through prior informed consent. Sequences downloaded from open databases bypass this checkpoint.
• Untraceable origin: COP 16 asks databases to record country of origin only "where known" [2].
• Open-science leakage: public databases and academic institutions are not expected to pay [2]. Commercial value can pass through them unpaid.
• Voluntarism: the Cali Fund sets an indicative rate of 1% of profits or 0.1% of revenue for large users, framed as "should" and not "shall" [2]. A COP 17 document notes that Target 13 has been addressed "to a lesser extent" than other targets [3].

India's stake

• Revenue: NBA has realised over ₹266 crore through ABS since 2008. The seed sector was the top contributor in FY 2025–26 [5]. If breeding moves to in-silico gene mining, this largest income source could shrink.
• Agriculture as a test case: in Oct 2026, ₹1.04 crore from use of millets, maize and rice was shared with 27 SBBs and 2 UTBCs by crop area, because claimers could not be traced through traders [4]. With DSI there would be no crop left to follow.
• Community equity: the JPC warned that the codified-TK exemption "may lead to denial of benefit to a majority of local traditional knowledge holders" [6]. DSI deepens this exclusion of BMCs and TK holders.
• Diplomatic voice: India is presenting its ABS record as Target 13 implementation at COP 17, Yerevan [4]. This gives it standing to lead the Global South.

Way forward

• At COP 17, push for binding thresholds and contribution rates [2].
• Use NBA's Certificate of Registration before IPR filing [7] to require disclosure of sequence origin.
• Build local origin records through People's Biodiversity Registers, and make penalties proportional to company gains, both as the JPC recommended [6].

DSI shifts benefit-sharing from tracing samples to sharing the value created from data. India's stake covers revenue, community equity and global leadership. It is best secured by pressing for a binding, equitable Cali Fund and by modernising its own origin records. That would turn the CBD's third objective and Target 13's 2030 promise into real gains for India's seed-keepers.