NBA crosses ₹200 crore in Access and Benefit-Sharing payouts

The NBA’s Access and Benefit-Sharing payouts: what happened?

When a company uses India’s biological resources for research or business, it must share benefits. Usually the money goes to the community that supplied the resource. Here the seeds were bought in open markets, so no single source could be found.

• NBA’s cumulative ABS disbursements crossed ₹200 crore; ₹8.23 crore sanctioned to 27 SBBs and 5 UTBCs from use of bitter gourd, okra, chilli and onion resources by seed firms [PIB].

How was the money shared?

• An Expert Committee recommended sharing by the area under each crop, as published by the Agriculture Ministry.
• Madhya Pradesh (bitter gourd, chilli, onion) and Maharashtra (more than 49 per cent of India’s onion area) get the most.
• Uttar Pradesh is tenth, with ₹35,72,456.
• Funds must be used under Section 32(2) of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002: People’s Biodiversity Registers, conservation, Biodiversity Heritage Sites and BMC capacity.
• It supports Target 13 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework on fair benefit sharing.

What can Prelims ask on the NBA’s Access and Benefit-Sharing payouts?

• ABS under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002; NBA cumulative payouts crossed ₹200 crore in 2026.
• Use of ABS funds: Section 32(2) of the Act.
• KMGBF Target 13: fair and equitable sharing of benefits.