What plant variety protection is
India protects new plant varieties through a law of their own, not through patents, and writes the rights of farmers into the same law as the rights of breeders.
The Patents Act excludes "plants and animals in whole or any part thereof", including seeds, varieties and species, from patents (s.3(j)).[3] The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001 (Act No. 53 of 2001) fills that gap. A new variety is registered if it conforms to the criteria of novelty, distinctiveness, uniformity and stability (s.15(1)).[2]
Breeders
A registration gives the breeder or successor the exclusive right to produce, sell, market, distribute, import or export the variety (s.28).[2]
Farmers
A farmer may save, use, sow, resow, exchange, share or sell farm produce including seed of a protected variety, but not branded seed (s.39).[2]
Researchers
Use for experiments or research, and as an initial source for creating other varieties, is allowed. Repeated use as a parental line for commercial production needs the breeder’s authorisation (s.30).[2]
The legal framework
The Act is administered by the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPV&FRA), at Plant Authority Bhawan, near the NASC Complex in New Delhi.[1] The WIPO Lex listing shows the Act as amended up to Act No. 33 of 2021; the section text I read is the original 2001 Act, so check later amendments.[4]
| Provision | What it says |
|---|---|
| s.2(za) | Variety: a plant grouping, excluding micro-organisms, within a single botanical taxon of the lowest known rank. |
| s.2(j) | Extant variety: includes varieties notified under the Seeds Act, 1966, and farmers’ varieties, commonly known varieties and varieties in the public domain. |
| s.2(k), (l) | A farmer includes a person who cultivates land, and one who conserves wild species or traditional varieties. A farmers’ variety is one traditionally cultivated and evolved by farmers in their fields, or a wild relative or landrace they commonly know. |
| s.15 | A new variety is registrable if it meets novelty, distinctiveness, uniformity and stability. Under s.15(3) a variety is generally not novel if sold more than one year before filing in India, or more than four years before abroad (six for trees and vines). |
| s.24(6) | A certificate is valid for nine years for trees and vines and six years for other crops, and can be renewed, up to 18 years for trees and vines and 15 years otherwise. |
| s.26 | Benefit sharing: the Authority fixes the amount to be paid to claimants whose genetic material contributed, having regard to the extent of use and the variety’s commercial utility. Amounts go to the National Gene Fund (s.45). |
| s.47 | Compulsory licence: after three years from registration, an interested person may apply where the public’s reasonable requirements for seed are not met or seed is not available at a reasonable price. |
Section 41, which a secondary source associates with benefit sharing, covers claims by village or local communities; benefit sharing itself is s.26.[2]
What can be registered
A law-firm overview lists four categories: new varieties, extant varieties (already in use when the Act came into force), essentially derived varieties, and farmers’ varieties.[5] Farmers are exempt from registration fees for their own varieties, and the framework provides for compensation where a registered variety underperforms as promised.[5]
The numbers
The Authority’s website reports 10,981 certificates issued as on 30 September 2026, by crop group.[1]
Certificates by crop group
Cumulative certificates issued as on 30.09.2026. Source: PPV&FRA website.
The crop groups add up to 10,981. The page does not say how many applications were received, or how many of the certificates are for farmers’ or extant varieties, so I make no claim about those.[1]
What this page does not cover
- Registration procedure, fees and DUS testing, beyond the note that DUS test guidelines are issued crop by crop.[1]
- Penalties and offences under the Act.
- The Biological Diversity Act and the national gene bank, which sit alongside this law.
- Case law. I did not research decisions under the Act.
References
Links are pages I opened while building this page. Where a source is a law-firm or explainer article rather than the Act itself, it is labelled secondary.
- PPV&FRA website. plantauthority.gov.in. Authority address, certificates issued as on 30.09.2026 by crop group, DUS guidelines. Page last updated 14 October 2026.
- The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001 (Act No. 53 of 2001). WIPO Lex, text and legislation record. Sections 2, 15, 24, 26, 28, 30, 39, 47 read.
- Patents Act, 1970, section 3(j). ipindia.gov.in.
- Amended text. WIPO Lex lists a consolidated version amended up to Act No. 33 of 2021. I read the listing, not the amended text.
- Plant variety protection in India. S.S. Rana & Co. secondary