Chennai – Any Indian company with turnover above one crore rupees that uses biological resources must now file an annual statement of what it used, under regulations notified by the National Biodiversity Authority.
The Biological Diversity (Access to Biological Resources and Knowledge Associated thereto and Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits) Regulation 2025 operationalises the Biological Diversity Act as amended in 2023, which took effect in April 2024.
The rates are material
For high-value resources including red sanders, sandalwood, agarwood and threatened species, benefit sharing is at least 5 per cent of the sale or auction value, and can exceed 20 per cent for commercial use.
Twenty per cent of sale value is not a compliance fee. It is a share of the business, and for ayurvedic manufacturers, cosmetics companies and botanical extract exporters it changes product economics rather than merely adding paperwork.
Digital sequence information is now in scope
The 2025 regulation brings digital sequence information within benefit sharing, which the earlier 2014 guidelines did not.
This is the provision with the longest reach. A company no longer needs to physically remove a plant to incur an obligation. Using the genetic sequence of an Indian organism, obtained from a database, can trigger benefit sharing. For biotechnology and pharmaceutical research, that reframes what counts as access.
Domestic companies got relief
The 2023 amendment decriminalised offences and stopped treating Indian-controlled companies with some foreign investment as foreign entities. It also eased conditions for Indian applicants filing patents based on biological resources.
Cultivated medicinal plants are exempt, which sensibly distinguishes farming a crop from extracting from the wild.
Where it meets disclosure
Biodiversity impact appears in BRSR reporting, and benefit sharing payments are the rare biodiversity item with a rupee value attached. For companies sourcing botanical inputs, this is the first biodiversity obligation that shows up in the accounts rather than the narrative.
Source: Biological Diversity (Access and Benefit Sharing) Regulation 2025 notified by the National Biodiversity Authority, and the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Act, 2023.
