Cotton seed companies set to earn Rs 700 cr

PUNE: Bt cotton seed companies are eyeing an income of Rs 700 crore this year following an increase in seed prices. The month-long tussle between seed companies and the Maharashtra government over Bt cotton seed prices has ended in the former’s favour.

Maharashtra, which has the highest cotton acreage, waited for Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh to take a call on seed prices. But when Maharashtra said it won’t increase the prices last week, seed companies indicated they would divert seeds to states where prices are higher.

Following this, the government has allowed a revision in prices which were kept constant for the last three years. The Bollgard I and Bollgard II seeds will now be sold for Rs 830 per packet and Rs 930 per packet instead of Rs 650 per packet and Rs 750 per packet (of 450 grams) respectively.

“There was a possibility of farmers getting bogus seeds or no seeds. We had no option,” said a government official. The seed requirement of the state in the previous year was 1.40 crore packets when the cotton acreage was at 39 lakh ha. This year, the area is expected to go up to 45 lakh ha and hence the state will need about 1.80 crore packets.

Thus the price increase of Rs 180 per packet will yield Rs 324 crore to the seed companies on the sale of Bt cotton seeds in Maharashtra alone. Seed companies expect to sell about four crore packets of Bt cotton seeds nationally during kharif 2011.