India's Gene-Edited Rice Varieties Edge Closer to Farmers' Fields This Rabi Season
ICAR is finalising an MoU with Corteva to unlock commercialisation of Pusa DST Rice 1, which could make India home to the world's first gene-edited rice variety grown at scale — starting with seed multiplication this November.
The short answer
India's premier agricultural research body, ICAR, is on the verge of signing a licensing agreement with US-based Corteva to enable commercial release of Pusa DST Rice 1, a CRISPR-edited rice variety developed by IARI. The institute already holds about 2 tonnes of seed — enough to begin multiplication in the upcoming rabi season, with transplanting targeted around November. A second MoU with MIT/Broad Institute is expected to follow, paving the way for the second gene-edited variety, DRR Dhan 100 (KAMALA).
The Breakthrough
From Lab Announcement to Field Reality: MoU Clears the Last Hurdle
More than a year after Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan publicly announced the development of two gene-edited rice varieties on May 4, 2025, the commercialisation process is finally gaining traction. ICAR has secured two of the three governmental approvals needed — including a clearance from the Ministry of External Affairs — to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Corteva, the US company that holds the licence for CRISPR-Cas9 technology. Once the third approval lands, the MoU is expected to be executed this month.
The agreement will specifically enable the commercial release of Pusa DST Rice 1, bred at ICAR's Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in New Delhi. A separate MoU with MIT/Broad Institute — which holds the patent over the CRISPR-Cas12a tool — is queued up next and will cover the second variety, DRR Dhan 100 (KAMALA), developed at the Hyderabad-based Indian Institute of Rice Research.
Seed Multiplication
Two Tonnes of Seed, a November Transplanting Window, and 13 States in Play
IARI has stockpiled approximately 2 tonnes of Pusa DST Rice 1 seed — sufficient, according to sources, to kick off seed multiplication in the rabi season, with transplanting slated for around November. The variety is derived from MTU1010, a cultivar suited to rabi conditions in southern India but vulnerable to drought, salinity, and alkalinity stress.
Scientists edited the SDNI mutant of the Drought and Salt Tolerance (DST) gene and validated the new lines through multilocation field trials in 2023 and 2024. The performance data is striking:
- Coastal salinity stress: Pusa DST Rice 1 averaged 2,493 kg/ha against MTU1010's 1,912 kg/ha
- Inland salinity stress: 3,508 kg/ha versus 3,199 kg/ha
- Alkalinity conditions: 3,731 kg/ha versus 3,254 kg/ha
ICАR recommends the variety for cultivation across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
First the MoU will be signed with Corteva and next will be with US-based MIT/Broad Institute which has the patent over 'CRISPR-Cas12a' tool.
IPR Landscape
Why a Licensing Deal Matters: Patents, Humanitarian Deals, and the Commercialisation Wall
The reason ICAR cannot simply release varieties developed using CRISPR tools lies in intellectual property law. Scientists are free to use patented gene-editing technologies for research purposes, but any commercial release of resulting varieties requires explicit consent from the patent holder or its designated licensee.
Corteva has already established a precedent by signing a long-term humanitarian licensing agreement with ICRISAT, announced on August 3. ICRISAT said the deal secures long-term access to CRISPR-Cas9 to deploy gene editing across smallholder farms in Asia and Africa. The ICAR–Corteva MoU is expected to follow a comparable framework.
From a regulatory standpoint, India already treats SDN1 and SDN2 gene-edited products as exempt from biosafety regulation under Rules 7–11 of the Rules 1989 under the Environment (Protection) Act 1986, because the resulting mutants carry no foreign DNA and are indistinguishable from spontaneous mutations — removing a significant bureaucratic barrier to commercialisation.
Next Frontier
AI-Designed Enzymes Could Eventually Free India From Foreign Patent Dependency
Even as ICAR navigates the licensing maze for its existing gene-edited varieties, its own scientists are already working on technology that could sidestep foreign patents altogether. A team led by Kutubuddin Ali Molla has demonstrated that AI-designed enzymes can accurately edit plant DNA — achieving gene knockout, base editing, and prime editing in crops.
While a US company had previously developed a comparable AI-designed system for human cells, ICAR's work represents the first successful demonstration of this approach in plants. If scaled and validated, such domestically developed tools could give Indian breeders the freedom to develop and commercialise new crop varieties without requiring licensing agreements with overseas patent holders — a structural shift that would have far-reaching implications for Indian seed sovereignty and agricultural innovation.
Why it matters
If commercialised as planned, Pusa DST Rice 1 would become the world's first gene-edited rice variety to reach farmers' fields at scale — a landmark moment for Indian agriculture and for global acceptance of CRISPR-based crop improvement. For farmers across 13 states spanning coastal, inland-saline, and alkaline environments, the variety offers meaningfully higher yields than the stress-sensitive parent cultivar MTU1010. Policymakers and agri-businesses should watch the pace of MoU signings and any regulatory signals, since the parallel advance of AI-designed gene-editing enzymes by ICAR scientists signals that India's next wave of crop innovation may not depend on foreign-held patents at all.
Frequently asked
- What is Pusa DST Rice 1 and how was it developed?
- Pusa DST Rice 1 is a gene-edited rice variety developed by ICAR's Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) using the CRISPR-Cas9 technology. It is derived from the existing variety MTU1010 — which is sensitive to drought and salinity — with scientists editing the SDNI mutant of the Drought and Salt Tolerance (DST) gene. The variety was validated through multilocation field trials in 2023 and 2024.
- Which states can grow Pusa DST Rice 1?
- ICAR recommends Pusa DST Rice 1 for cultivation in 13 states: Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
- Why does ICAR need to sign an MoU with a US company to release an Indian rice variety?
- The CRISPR-Cas9 technology used to develop Pusa DST Rice 1 is patented, and its commercial use requires a licensing agreement with the patent holder's authorised licensee — in this case, Corteva. While research use of patented gene-editing tools is permitted, any commercial release of varieties developed using them requires explicit consent from the patent holder or licensee.
- Is gene-edited rice subject to biosafety regulation in India?
- No — at least not for the SDN1 and SDN2 categories of gene editing used in these varieties. India exempts SDN1 and SDN2 gene-edited products from biosafety regulation under Rules 7–11 of the Rules 1989 under the Environment (Protection) Act 1986, because such mutants contain no foreign DNA and are indistinguishable from naturally occurring or conventionally induced mutants.
Source
This report summarises and analyses coverage from The Hindu BusinessLine — Agri Business. The analysis and India context are IndianAgri's own.