New Delhi, Dec 12 (PTI) The Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI) on Thursday urged the government to reject patent evergreening for agrochemicals, arguing that such a move would harm farmers and local manufacturers by creating monopolistic market conditions.

The industry body criticised a newly formed government committee examining data protection provisions for agrochemicals, claiming it would unfairly benefit multinational corporations and importers at the expense of domestic producers.

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CCFI Chairman Deepak Shah, in a statement, said extending patent protections beyond the standard 20-year period would lead to overpricing and reduced accessibility for small and marginal farmers.

"The government should protect the interest of domestic manufacturers and farmers," Shah stated.

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The federation highlighted that between 2010 and 2022, while 62 new pesticide molecules were patented in India, only 27 were commercially launched. Of the remaining 35 products, their patent periods have already expired.

Citing a 2021 Parliamentary Standing Committee report, CCFI emphasised that the existing 20-year patent term provides sufficient time for inventors to recover their research and development costs.

In its comments on the draft Pesticide Management Bill 2008, the Commerce and Industry Ministry had in 2015 suggested to "delete the provision of data exclusivity from draft PMB 2008", saying if it was extended to agrochemicals, there would be pressure from MNCs to extend the same to pharmaceutical products also.

The organisation, representing over 50 domestic agricultural input companies, warned that patent evergreening would create additional legal monopolies and significantly increase costs for Indian farmers.

Evergreening of patents is the process by which businesses apply for a patent extension with minor product or process adjustments.

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