New Delhi, Jan. 14 -- The government is likely to introduce the Seeds Bill 2025 in the upcoming Budget session of Parliament, seeking to enforce new regulations to an estimated Rs.1,600-crore industry, including, for the first time, steep penalties for selling spurious planting material to farmers, an official with knowledge of the matter has said. The agriculture ministry-steered bill, a draft of which was first circulated in November 2024, has received the final go-ahead from the law ministry and provides for mandatory registration of all agricultural firms in the seed-production business, including plant nurseries, according to a copy reviewed by HT. The bill proposes penalties and punitive action on seed producers for various violations, codifying offences as "trivial", "minor" and "major". For serious and repeated violations, such as selling spurious seeds, penalties and fines can go up to Rs.30 lakh along with licence-suspension. The Centre had been planning to bring stricter rules to tackle the issue of fake fertilisers and spurious agricultural inputs, a problem that, according to a recent study, accounts for 40% of total sales by value, which HT reported on June 3. The proposed seed legislation is aimed at addressing these problems, the official said. The bill preamble states that it will "provide for regulating the quality of seeds for sale and import, to facilitate production and supply of quality seeds". According to Section 3 of the bill, the government will set up a seed committee to regulate key issues, while section 6 gives the Centre powers to notify minimum quality thresholds regarding germination, purity, seed health, or variety. htc...