Syngenta Crop may rethink investing in India, says top executive Hawkins

Pune: Syngenta Crop Protection, the $13.2-billion pesticide and seeds arm of agricultural giant Syngenta, may reconsider investing in India due to policy uncertainties, a top company official said, citing the recent pause on sale of biostimulents, which enhances nutrient uptake by plants.

"This kind of disruption strategically makes companies wonder whether we should invest in India, (and) should we build our portfolio when we have this inconsistency from the regulatory system," said Steven Hawkins, global president of Syngenta Crop Protection.

Agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had on June 17 said biostimulents-which have a market size of about $400 million in the country-will not be allowed to be sold without scientific approval after the provisional registration period of biostimulents expired on June 16.


They were allowed to be sold for the past two years.

Chouhan said he had received complaints from farmers that biostimulents were fake or not effective.