Home Environment NBA Disburses ₹8.23 Crore ABS Proceeds to 32 States and UTs; J&K...

NBA Disburses ₹8.23 Crore ABS Proceeds to 32 States and UTs; J&K Not Among Beneficiaries

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5 September 2026

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Funds linked to four vegetable crops to support biodiversity conservation and community livelihoods; J&K absent from latest distribution

New Delhi, September 5: The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) has sanctioned ₹8.23 crore in Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) proceeds to 27 State Biodiversity Boards and five Union Territory Biodiversity Councils, with Jammu and Kashmir not figuring among the beneficiaries of the latest disbursement.

The funds have been generated from the access and commercial utilisation of four biological resources—bitter gourd, okra, chilli and onion—and are being distributed among States and Union Territories based on the area under cultivation of the respective crops.

The latest disbursement takes the NBA’s cumulative ABS disbursements beyond ₹200 crore, marking a significant milestone in the implementation of India’s framework for ensuring that benefits arising from the use of biological resources are shared and channelled towards biodiversity conservation and community-oriented activities.

The ABS proceeds were realised from seed companies Nunhems India Pvt. Ltd., East West Seeds India Pvt. Ltd. and Bayer Science and Innovation Pvt. Ltd., in connection with their access to the four biological resources for research and commercial utilisation.

J&K not included

Despite Jammu and Kashmir’s cultivation of several of these crops, J&K does not figure in the list of 27 States and five Union Territories receiving the ₹8.23 crore disbursement announced by the NBA.

The Authority said the biological resources involved in the latest case had been accessed through open markets or traders and therefore could not be traced to individual farmers, communities or a single identifiable geographical source.

In such cases, the distribution methodology recommended by an Expert Committee and approved by the NBA provides for distributing the beneficiary share among the State Biodiversity Boards and Union Territory Biodiversity Councils of areas where the concerned crops are cultivated.

The distribution is based on crop-wise cultivation area published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

The methodology is intended to ensure that ABS proceeds reach jurisdictions associated with cultivation of the biological resources even where the individual providers or source communities cannot be identified.

Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra among largest recipients

Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra emerged as the two largest cumulative recipients across the four crops.

Madhya Pradesh’s share is linked to its cultivation of bitter gourd, chilli and onion, while Maharashtra’s position is primarily attributed to its substantial share of India’s onion cultivation area, which accounts for more than 49 per cent of the national area under the crop.

The ten largest recipient States/UTs and their combined ABS allocations are:

Rank	State/UT	ABS amount
1	Madhya Pradesh	₹1,17,39,914
2	Maharashtra	₹1,01,30,649
3	Andhra Pradesh	₹75,55,077
4	Karnataka	₹65,22,893
5	Gujarat	₹64,05,708
6	Odisha	₹57,63,361
7	Bihar	₹47,63,367
8	Chhattisgarh	₹39,91,285
9	West Bengal	₹36,04,978
10	Uttar Pradesh	₹35,72,456
—	Remaining States/UTs	₹1,82,88,892

Funds earmarked for biodiversity conservation

The State Biodiversity Boards and UT Biodiversity Councils receiving the funds are required to utilise them for activities specified under Section 32(2) of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.

These include documentation and updating of People’s Biodiversity Registers (PBRs), in-situ and ex-situ conservation of biological resources, restoration of degraded ecosystems, strengthening of Biodiversity Heritage Sites, capacity building of Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) and improvement of community livelihoods.

The NBA said the latest allocation represents another step towards ensuring that economic benefits generated through the utilisation of biological resources are channelled into biodiversity conservation and activities benefiting communities.

The Authority said cumulative ABS disbursements exceeding ₹200 crore reflect its continuing efforts to implement the Biological Diversity Act and operationalise the principle of fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilisation of biological resources.

The ABS framework also forms part of India’s commitments under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, including Target 13 concerning fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources, where applicable.

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