CropLife India has raised serious concerns over the unchecked sale of unauthorized crop protection products through e-commerce platforms, calling for urgent strengthening of regulatory supervision, enforcement obligations, and accountability in the online sale of pesticides. The association noted that as the government undertakes a broader review of pesticide regulation through the Draft Pesticides Management Bill, 2025, emerging risks linked to online sales must be addressed clearly and explicitly. CropLife India is an industry association representing 17 R&D-driven crop protection companies.
The issue was highlighted during CropLife India’s National Conference on Crop Protection Products Sale on E-Commerce Platforms, held in New Delhi. The conference brought together policymakers, regulators, industry representatives, and other stakeholders to examine the shift of agri-input sales to online platforms and the regulatory responses required to safeguard farmers and the integrity of the supply chain.
Addressing the conference, Dr P. K. Singh, Agriculture Commissioner, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India, noted that basic compliance checks by e-commerce platforms, such as verification of GST documents of sellers, may not be sufficient when hazardous agri-inputs are sold online. He emphasized the need for stronger quality assurance, traceability, and supply-chain accountability, and said these issues merit consideration under the Pesticides Management Bill, 2025.
Dr Subhash Chand, Secretary, CIB&RC, Government of India, observed that while digitization and e-commerce are expanding rapidly in rural India, they also introduce new risks. He stressed that pesticides are hazardous products and that responsibility for quality, compliance, and farmer safety must be shared by platforms and manufacturers as online sales grow. Ravi Shankar, Domain Lead – Agriculture, ONDC, highlighted the need for better cataloguing, advisory details, and traceability to help farmers identify genuine products and reduce the risk of spurious inputs.
Speaking at the conference, Ankur Aggarwal, Chairman, CropLife India, said, “We are not against the sale of pesticides on e-commerce platforms. This engagement is about ensuring that regulatory and enforcement frameworks evolve with the realities of digital commerce. Tackling unauthorized products remains a shared priority for policymakers and the crop protection industry and is critical for farmer safety, food security, and consumer trust. Today’s conference aims to engage all stakeholders and develop a framework that can effectively address existing gaps.”
CropLife India noted that crop protection products are regulated under the Insecticides Act, 1968, and the Insecticides Rules, 1971, which permit sales only through licensed sellers of approved products within specified geographic areas, provided they are supported by valid Principal Certificates from manufacturers or importers.
However, under the existing framework, e-commerce platforms facilitating the sale of pesticides are not currently required to obtain licences or approvals specifically under pesticide law, nor are they subject to explicit statutory obligations to verify whether products listed online are endorsed on the seller’s licence or supported by valid Principal Certificates. This creates a regulatory gap in which platforms can enable the listing and sale of pesticides without clear accountability, increasing the risk of unauthorised products reaching farmers.
The association noted that pesticides are being sold online through both marketplace and inventory-based e-commerce models. In inventory-based models, pesticides may be stored, handled and dispatched from warehouses that are not licensed under the Insecticides Rules, even though identical activities require licensing in the offline supply chain. This weakens regulatory oversight and makes inspection, sampling and traceability significantly more difficult.
While Rule 10E of the Insecticides Rules, introduced in 2022, permits online or doorstep delivery of pesticides, CropLife India emphasized that it does not override existing licensing and authorization requirements. The association said this provision has at times been misinterpreted to justify unauthorised online sales.
Under the current enforcement architecture, inspections, sampling, and verification are conducted primarily at licensed premises. In contrast, storage in warehouses and movement of pesticides through e-commerce supply chains often fall outside routine regulatory supervision, limiting the ability of authorities to quickly trace responsibility and take timely action against spurious or illegal products, even when risks are identified.
Aggarwal reiterated that while the Draft Pesticides Management Bill, 2025 seeks to strengthen India’s pesticide regulatory framework, it does not explicitly address several critical e-commerce-specific gaps, including platform-level accountability, licensing obligations in inventory-based models, and digital traceability across online supply chains.