India has the largest variety improvement network in the world, yet the country is looking forward to private participation. The Indian public sector makes the cheapest improved varieties, hybrids and many world firsts [first hybrid cotton (H4) 1970, hybrid pearl millet (1963), hybrid sorghum (1962), hybrid castor, hybrid mango]; it ensures quality through certification but is dubbed inefficient. Why?

"The Indian public research system through its crop improvement programmes has developed approximately 3,500 varieties of all crops,' says S P Sharma, head, department of seed science, Indian Agricultural Research Institute. All these varieties undergo a stringent procedure of notification and certification. Yet, most public sector seed companies are making losses. The reason is that they deal in improved varieties, which farmers use for 3-4 years. They also market high volume and low-value seeds of cereals, potato or onion. This results in high transportation cost and low profit.

In contrast, the private sector comprises more than 200 companies, which have developed only about 150 varieties on their own. But their share value-wise, in the Rs 4,500-crore Indian seed industry