NBA receives Rs 9.68 crore under Access and Benefit Sharing Framework during April–September 2026

1. At a Glance

• The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) collected ₹9.68 crore from users of India's biological resources between 1 April and 30 September 2026. This was done under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (as amended in 2023) and the ABS Regulations [1].
• Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) works like this: anyone who commercially uses India's bio-resources or the traditional knowledge linked to them pays a "benefit share." That money goes back into conservation and to the communities that hold the resources [1][11].
• The topic links India's domestic law to the CBD's Nagoya Protocol [9][10]. That makes it core material for GS-III (environment, biodiversity, IPR) and for Prelims questions on statutory bodies.

2. Why in the News

• PIB, 8 October 2026: the NBA reported ₹9.68 crore in ABS receipts for April–September 2026. Of this, ₹9.56 crore was paid for access to biological resources [1].
• The agri-seed sector paid the most at ₹7.16 crore, about 74% of the total [1].
• The release also gives cumulative figures. Since 2008, ABS has brought in about ₹278 crore, and more than ₹200 crore has been disbursed [1].

3. Background & Evolution

• Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) → India enacted the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 [11].
• 2003: the NBA was set up under Section 8 of the Act, with headquarters in Chennai [4].
• 2008: the NBA started realising ABS receipts. This is the base year for the ₹278 crore cumulative figure [1].
• 29 October 2010: the Nagoya Protocol on ABS was adopted at CBD COP-10 in Nagoya, Japan [10].
• 12 October 2014: the Nagoya Protocol entered into force after 51 ratifications, during India's CBD COP Presidency [9].
• 16 December 2021: the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha by MoEFCC. It went to a Joint Parliamentary Committee on 20 December 2021, and the JPC reported on 2 August 2022 [3].
• 2023: the Amendment was passed by the Lok Sabha on 25 July 2023 and the Rajya Sabha on 1 August 2023 [3].
• 2024–25: the Biological Diversity Rules, 2024 and the ABS Regulations, 2025 now support the framework [4].

4. Core Static Facts

Sector-wise receipts, April–September 2026 (₹ crore) [1]

• IPR-related applications: ₹11.24 lakh [1].
• Largest contributor overall: East West Seeds India Ltd, about ₹2.01 crore across several payments [1].
• Largest single payment: Synergia Life Science Ltd, ₹1.17 crore [1].
• Nunhems India Ltd: upfront payments of about ₹1.64 crore [1].
• Other notable payers: Tata Chemicals (₹52.06 lakh), Indena India (₹45.89 lakh), Grow Indigo (₹45.79 lakh), Novozymes South Asia (₹44.11 lakh) and Nongwoo Seed India (₹40.53 lakh) [1].
• Foreign payers: entities from Sri Lanka, Germany, France, the Republic of Korea and Bhutan [1].
• Resources used [1]:
• Crops: chickpea, red lentil, horse gram, guar gum, buckwheat, okra and others.
• Medicinal plants: Ashwagandha, Shatavari, Kalmegh, Bacopa, Gotukola, Moringa and others.
• Soil microbes: Azospirillum, Azotobacter, Rhizobium, Trichoderma, Metarhizium.
• Livestock: Mithun (Bos frontalis), Jersey cattle (Bos taurus) and Murrah buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) frozen semen.
• Red Sanders from cultivated sources and auctioned material.

5. Multi-Dimensional Analysis

Economic

• Half-year receipts of ₹9.68 crore compare with ₹21.26 crore for all of FY 2025–26 [1][4]. Inference: H1 FY27 is running at about 46% of last year's full-year figure.
• Seed companies dominate. This shows ABS is mostly driven by agri-biotech and seed breeding, not pharma [1].
• Over the whole period, about ₹278 crore has been realised against more than ₹200 crore disbursed, meaning roughly 72% has been passed on [1].

Environmental

• The money is used to conserve biological resources, prepare and update People's Biodiversity Registers (PBRs), strengthen BMCs, and fund research and documentation [1].
• ABS money has also gone to specific species. For example, ₹82 lakh was sanctioned for Red Sanders conservation in Andhra Pradesh [5].

Social / Equity

• The benefits reach local communities, farmers and benefit claimers through the SBBs and UTBCs [1].
• After the 2023 amendment, benefit-sharing terms are agreed between the user and the BMC, with the NBA representing the BMC. Previously they were agreed with local bodies and benefit claimers directly [3].
• Concern: users of codified traditional knowledge and AYUSH practitioners are exempt from sharing benefits with local communities, and the Act does not define "codified traditional knowledge" [2][3].

Legal / Governance

• Offences have been decriminalised. Before the amendment they carried up to 5 years' imprisonment. Now they attract civil penalties of ₹1 lakh to ₹50 lakh, and up to ₹1 crore for continuing violations [3].
• Companies incorporated in India but foreign-controlled (as defined in the Companies Act, 2013) now need NBA approval [3].
• Research and bio-survey activities are now outside the benefit-sharing net [2][3].

Scientific / IPR

• IPR applications rose after the reforms: 857 received and 792 CoRs issued in FY 2024–25, and 1,077 received and 885 CoRs issued in FY 2025–26 [2].

Geopolitical

• Payers from five countries show ABS working across borders [1].
• India has submitted its 1st National Report on implementing the Nagoya Protocol to the CBD [7].

6. Recent Developments (last 12–18 months)

I couldn't open the PIB pages (they returned 403), so the exact dates of the releases below are unverified. They are listed in ascending PIB release-ID order, which roughly tracks chronology.

• The NBA sanctioned ₹82 lakh for Red Sanders conservation in Andhra Pradesh under ABS [5].
• The NBA disbursed ₹45.05 lakh to BMCs in 10 States and 2 UTs [8].
• India submitted its 1st National Report on the Nagoya Protocol to the CBD [7].
• PIB reported a surge in IPR filings after the 2023 Amendment reforms [2].
• The NBA realised ₹21.26 crore through ABS in FY 2025–26 [4].
• The NBA disbursed about ₹3.79 crore to 33 States/UTs and national institutes [6].
• 8 October 2026: ₹9.68 crore in ABS receipts for April–September 2026 [1].

7. Prelims Hooks

• The NBA is a statutory body set up in 2003 under Section 8 of the BD Act, 2002, with HQ in Chennai [4].
• The NBA's administrative ministry is MoEFCC [1].
• The ABS framework has three tiers: NBA → SBB/UTBC → BMC [4].
• The supporting rules and regulations are the BD Rules, 2024 and the ABS Regulations, 2025 [4].
• ABS receipts for April–September 2026 were ₹9.68 crore, with the agri-seed sector (₹7.16 crore) as the largest [1].
• The largest single ABS payment in H1 2026–27 was ₹1.17 crore from Synergia Life Science [1].
• Cumulative ABS realisation since 2008 is about ₹278 crore, with more than ₹200 crore disbursed [1].
• ABS receipts for FY 2025–26 were ₹21.26 crore [4].
• The Nagoya Protocol was adopted on 29 October 2010 at COP-10 and entered into force on 12 October 2014 after 51 ratifications [9][10].
• The BD (Amendment) Act, 2023 was passed by the LS on 25 July 2023 and the RS on 1 August 2023. It had been examined by a JPC [3].
• After the 2023 Amendment, AYUSH practitioners and users of codified TK are exempt from benefit sharing [2][3].
• After the 2023 Amendment, offences are decriminalised, with penalties of ₹1 lakh to ₹50 lakh, up to ₹1 crore for continuing violations [3].
• NBA approval for IPR is now needed at the grant stage, not the filing stage [3].
• Mithun (Bos frontalis) genetic resources figured among the ABS-linked livestock resources [1].

8. What the ₹9.68 Crore Headline Hides

• Half the money came from just three companies
• East West Seeds paid about ₹2.01 crore, Nunhems about ₹1.64 crore and Synergia ₹1.17 crore [1].
• Together that is about ₹4.82 crore, nearly 50% of the ₹9.68 crore total (own calculation from [1]).

• So the yearly total can rise or fall a lot because of a few seed deals. It does not show that many companies are using the system.

• Many patent approvals, very little money from them

• The NBA issued 885 Certificates of Registration (CoR, the NBA's permission needed before a patent on Indian bio-resources) in FY 2025–26 [2].
• Yet IPR-related applications brought in only ₹11.24 lakh in H1 FY27. Almost all the money (₹9.56 crore) came from access to physical material [1].

• The busiest part of the system, patents, earns the least. More approvals have not meant more benefit sharing.

• The long-run total is small for a mega-diverse country

• About ₹278 crore since 2008 works out to roughly ₹15 crore a year over 18 years (own calculation from [1]).
• About ₹78 crore of that (₹278 crore minus more than ₹200 crore disbursed) has not yet reached the ground [1].

9. Why AYUSH Pays So Little: The Codified Knowledge Loophole

• AYUSH paid only ₹0.21 crore, and the law is a likely reason
• AYUSH is the sector built most directly on traditional knowledge (TK). Yet it paid only ₹0.21 crore out of ₹9.68 crore [1].

• The 2023 Amendment exempts codified TK (knowledge already written in classical texts) from benefit sharing. It also exempts AYUSH practitioners [2][3].

• The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) itself warned about this

• The JPC observed that most TK in the AYUSH system is already codified [12].
• It also warned that TK recorded in a People's Biodiversity Register (PBR) could be treated as "codified" too. Then most local knowledge holders would get nothing [12].

• The irony: a community that documents its knowledge in a PBR, as the Act asks, may lose its claim to a benefit share.

• MoEFCC should define "codified TK" in the law, as the JPC asked

• The JPC recommended defining it as knowledge drawn from the authoritative books listed in the First Schedule of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 (Ayurveda, Siddha and others) [12].

• The Act still does not define the term [3]. A fixed list of books would stop PBR entries from being counted as codified.

• Cultivated medicinal plants are a second gap

• The amendment also exempts cultivated medicinal plants from benefit sharing [12].
• Without proof of origin, wild-collected plants can be passed off as "cultivated". The JPC asked that a certificate of origin come from an entry in the local body's records, written into the Act itself [12].

10. Money Reaches the BMC on Paper, Not Always the Holder

• The community no longer negotiates its own deal
• Since 2023, the NBA negotiates benefit-sharing terms on behalf of the Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC, the village or town-level body under the Act) [3].

• That saves small communities from facing big seed companies alone. But the people who hold the resource now have no direct voice in what they are paid.

• The payments that do reach the ground are small and slow

• One disbursement sent ₹45.05 lakh to BMCs spread over 10 States and 2 UTs [8].
• Another sent about ₹3.79 crore to 33 States/UTs and national institutes. So not all of it went to communities [6].

• Compare this with the ₹78 crore or so that is still undisbursed (from [1]).

• The NBA should publish where each payment goes

• The PIB release names the payers and the resources, such as Mithun, Murrah semen and Ashwagandha [1]. It does not say which BMC or community received the money for each one.
• A public list matching each receipt to its beneficiary BMC would show whether the money follows the resource.

11. The Case for the 2023 Easing, and Where It Falls Short

• The strongest argument for the reform
• The old law threatened up to 5 years in jail and asked for NBA approval at the patent application stage. Researchers and companies stayed away [3].
• After the reform, IPR applications rose from 857 (FY 2024–25) to 1,077 (FY 2025–26) [2]. ABS receipts reached ₹21.26 crore in FY 2025–26 [4].

• This is a fair point. More firms are now inside the system, which is better than biopiracy outside it.

• The answer: getting firms in is not the same as making them pay fairly

• Offences now carry civil fines of ₹1 lakh to ₹50 lakh [3]. For a firm earning crores from a patented seed or extract, that may be cheaper than following the rules.
• The JPC said the penalty should not be so small that violators escape by paying a little [12].

• It recommended linking fines to (i) the gains the company made and (ii) the size of the company [12]. The Act kept fixed amounts instead [3].

• What MoEFCC can still do

• Under the Act, penalties can match the damage caused when the damage is bigger than the fine [12]. Rules and regulations can make that the normal practice for large firms, not the rare case.

12. The Next Fight: Gene Data That Never Touches Indian Soil

• India's receipts all come from physical samples
• Every resource in the release is something physical: seeds, plants, soil microbes, frozen semen, Red Sanders wood [1].

• Today a company can read a gene sequence from an online database without taking any sample from India. This is called Digital Sequence Information (DSI).

• The world has started a separate payment route for DSI

• At CBD COP16 in Cali, Colombia (November 2024), countries agreed on Decision 16/2 to run a global benefit-sharing system for DSI [13].

• Its fund is the Cali Fund. It aims to collect money from private companies that use DSI and share it with biodiversity-rich countries, indigenous peoples and local communities [13].

• Why this matters for India

• If seed and pharma research moves from physical samples to data, the 74% of receipts that come from agri-seed could shrink, even while India's genes are still being used [1].
• India's ABS income in future may depend as much on its position in the Cali Fund talks as on NBA approvals at home.

13. Anchors for Answers

• Data: ₹9.68 crore ABS receipts in H1 FY27, of which about 50% came from three companies (East West Seeds, Nunhems, Synergia) and only ₹0.21 crore from AYUSH [1]
• Data: ₹278 crore realised since 2008 against more than ₹200 crore disbursed, leaving about ₹78 crore not yet with beneficiaries [1]
• Data: 1,077 IPR applications in FY 2025–26, up from 857, but IPR-linked receipts of only ₹11.24 lakh in H1 FY27 [1][2]
• Report/Committee: Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021 (Chair: Dr. Sanjay Jaiswal), tabled 2 August 2022. It flagged the codified-TK loophole and asked for penalties linked to company gains and size [12]
• Law/Case: Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (Section 8, NBA); BD (Amendment) Act, 2023; Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, First Schedule (the JPC's proposed basis for defining codified TK) [4][3][12]
• Comparison: CBD COP16 Decision 16/2 (Cali, 2024) set up the Cali Fund for benefit sharing on Digital Sequence Information, beyond country-by-country physical-access permits like India's [13]

14. Mains Relevance

• GS-III: Conservation and environmental degradation; IPR issues; biotechnology.
• GS-II: Statutory bodies; government policies and interventions; important international institutions (CBD).
• Possible questions: 1. The Access and Benefit Sharing mechanism under the Biological Diversity Act is as much about equity as about conservation. Critically examine in light of the 2023 amendments. (15 marks) 2. Discuss whether the exemption of AYUSH practitioners and codified traditional knowledge from benefit sharing dilutes the spirit of the Nagoya Protocol. (10 marks) 3. Evaluate the role of Biodiversity Management Committees and People's Biodiversity Registers in operationalising fair and equitable benefit sharing in India. (10 marks)

15. Related Topics to Study Next

• CBD and its three objectives. ABS is the third objective (fair and equitable benefit sharing).
• Nagoya Protocol vs. Cartagena Protocol. ABS versus biosafety: a classic confusion pair.
• Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Its targets include benefit sharing and Digital Sequence Information (DSI).
• People's Biodiversity Registers and Biodiversity Heritage Sites. These are the local-level tools that ABS funds pay for.
• Patents Act, 1970 (Section 3(p), traditional knowledge) and TKDL. These form the IPR–biopiracy link with the CoR requirement.
• PPV&FR Act, 2001. It is the parallel benefit-sharing regime for plant varieties and farmers, relevant given that seed companies dominate ABS.
• Red Sanders (Pterocarpus santalinus). An endemic, trade-regulated species that is an ABS beneficiary.
• Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act and decriminalisation. This is the same legislative trend as the BD Amendment's shift to civil penalties.

16. NCERT Concepts to Revise

• Access and benefit sharing (Economy): This is the core mechanism the whole note is about: users paying communities and conservation for bio-resources.
• Biological Diversity Act 2002 (Geography): The law that set up the NBA and the ABS system, and its 2023 amendment changed who pays.
• Nagoya Protocol (Geography): The international treaty on access and benefit sharing that India's domestic ABS framework implements.
• Biodiversity Management Committees (Geography): Local bodies that represent communities in benefit-sharing deals and are meant to receive the money.
• Biopiracy (Economy): ABS exists to stop firms taking or patenting bio-resources and traditional knowledge without sharing benefits.
• Traditional knowledge (Economy): The codified-knowledge exemption for AYUSH is a key equity concern, and may explain AYUSH's low payments.

17. Common Errors / Trap Areas

• Location and year: the NBA is in Chennai (not Delhi) and was set up in 2003 (not 2002, the year of the Act) [4].
• Nagoya dates: the Protocol was adopted in 2010 and entered into force in 2014. The Nagoya Protocol covers ABS; the Cartagena Protocol covers biosafety [9][10].
• Top sector: agriculture/seeds is the largest ABS contributor, not AYUSH or pharma. AYUSH contributed only ₹0.21 crore [1].
• Largest contributor vs. largest single payment: East West Seeds was the largest contributor overall (₹2.01 crore across several payments). Synergia gave the largest single payment (₹1.17 crore) [1].
• 2023 Amendment: it moved NBA approval for IPR to the grant stage, exempted AYUSH and codified TK, and decriminalised offences. It did not make penalties harsher [3].