NEW DELHI, 3 July 2025: As trade negotiations with the United States reach a critical point, India is drawing a hard line to protect its farm sector from genetically modified (GM) crop imports, a move aimed at safeguarding the incomes of nearly 24 million soyabean and maize growers.
Talks around a “mini trade deal” have hit an impasse, with Washington pressing for India to open its market to GM soyabean and maize, despite the looming threat of steep country-specific tariffs reimposed by the US from next week.
India’s agriculture and trade negotiators say concessions in this area are off the table. “It would be a disaster for farmers if GM crops flowed in,” agricultural economist Deepak Pareek told Moneycontrol, noting that Indian farmers with lower productivity could face devastating price crashes.
The stakes are high. Soyabean growers, numbering about 11 million, already struggle with prices hovering around INR 4,000 per quintal, below the minimum support price of INR 4,892. Former food processing secretary Siraj Hussain warned that an influx of cheap, genetically modified US soyabean could further impoverish farmers, particularly those in rain-fed regions.
India’s maize growers, about 13 million strong, face similar pressures. American maize yields, around 11 tonnes per hectare, far exceed India’s 3–4 tonnes, creating a potentially unequal playing field if tariffs are relaxed.
“India will not allow imports of GM maize and soyabean,” Pareek argued. “Instead, our farmers should be allowed to grow GM varieties if they choose.”
In 2002, India approved Bt cotton as its only major GM crop, but experiences have been mixed, with farmer protests, pest resistance, and rising costs. “GM seeds often cannot be reused, so farmers must buy them every season, which could be a heavy burden for smallholders,” explained Divya Kumar Gulati, chairman of the Compound Feed Manufacturers Association.
Officials say India lacks a robust supply chain monitoring framework, increasing the risk of GM materials leaking into local agriculture. “Once GM products enter the country, they are difficult to control,” Ajay Srivastava of the Global Trade Research Initiative said, citing concerns about food safety, environmental risks, and potential export bans from countries that reject GM contamination.
The US claims Indian tariffs on agricultural goods, averaging 39%, are unfairly high compared to America’s 5%, and has threatened fresh duties on Indian goods if a trade deal is not reached soon.
Some policymakers have floated a middle path: allowing limited imports of American corn only for ethanol blending. India’s ethanol program targets 20% blending in petrol by October 2025 and is shifting from sugarcane to maize and broken grain to address food security concerns.
A Niti Aayog paper, later withdrawn after public criticism, proposed allowing US corn for ethanol and distiller’s dried grains for export processing while keeping genetically modified products out of domestic food chains.
As a negotiating team stays on in the US to hammer out a deal, the government appears firm. “Agriculture in India is not just economic — it is cultural and political,” Gulati said. “GM crops are seen as foreign-imposed technologies, which provokes resistance on sovereignty grounds.”
India’s decision is being closely watched in trade and policy circles, with the July 9 tariff deadline fast approaching.