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CropLife India flags illegal pesticide sales on e-commerce platforms
NEW DELHI: CropLife India has raised alarm over the growing online sale of unauthorised pesticides, warning that gaps in regulation and enforcement across e-commerce platforms risk exposing farmers to hazardous and spurious products.
The industry body, which represents 17 research-led crop protection companies, called for a strong joint government–industry framework to bring accountability, licensing and traceability into digital agri-input supply chains. The concerns come as the government reviews pesticide regulation under the draft pesticides management bill, 2025.
The issue took centre stage at CropLife India’s national conference on crop protection products sale on e-commerce platforms, held in New Delhi, where policymakers, regulators and industry executives examined how agri-input sales are shifting online and where oversight is falling short.
Addressing the gathering, ministry of agriculture & farmers welfare agriculture commissioner P K Singh, said basic compliance checks such as GST verification were inadequate when hazardous products are sold digitally. He stressed the need for tighter quality assurance, traceability and supply-chain accountability, and said these risks must be addressed explicitly in the new law.
Insecticides board & registration committee secretary Subhash Chand, warned that while digitisation is expanding access in rural India, pesticides remain hazardous products requiring shared responsibility between platforms and manufacturers. ONDC domain lead – agriculture Ravi Shankar underlined the importance of better cataloguing, advisory information and traceability to help farmers distinguish genuine products from fakes.
CropLife India chairman Ankur Aggarwal said the industry was not opposed to online sales but to the absence of enforceable safeguards. “Tackling unauthorised products is critical for farmer safety, food security and trust,” he said, adding that regulation must evolve with digital commerce.
The association pointed out that pesticides are governed by the insecticides act, 1968 and insecticides rules, 1971, which strictly limit sales to licensed sellers, approved products, defined geographies and valid at from manufacturers or importers. However, e-commerce platforms facilitating such sales are not required to hold licences under pesticide law, nor explicitly mandated to verify product authorisations, creating a regulatory blind spot.
Risks are sharper in inventory-led e-commerce models, where storage and dispatch may occur from warehouses not licensed under existing rules, weakening inspection, sampling and traceability. CropLife India also clarified that rule 10E, introduced in 2022 to permit online or doorstep delivery, does not waive licensing or authorisation requirements, despite being widely misinterpreted.
With inspections largely tied to licensed premises, enforcement agencies struggle to track responsibility across fragmented digital supply chains, delaying action against illegal products. While welcoming the intent of the draft bill, CropLife India said it fails to clearly address platform-level accountability, licensing in inventory models and digital traceability.
The association said it will submit its recommendations through the formal consultation process, calling for what it described as “regulated enablement” of digital agri-commerce.
