Hyderabad, Jan. 1: The Andhra Pradesh government plans to take Mahyco-Monsanto Biotechnology Company to the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) for the discriminatory royalties collected by it for BT cotton, state agriculture minister N. Raghuveera Reddy said on Wednesday.

The minister said the global seed company had been forcibly collecting a royalty of Rs 1,250 per packet of 450 grams of BT cotton seeds, for which the farmers have to shell out Rs 1,850. This has resulted in a significant increase in the cost of production.

The state government plans to file a case before the commission on January 2 seeking its intervention to reduce the royalty collected in India by Monsanto.

The case will be filed against Monsanto and four other Indian seed companies, which sold BT cotton seeds under manufacturing license in the country. These companies include Mahyco Ltd, Pro-Agro, Nuzibveedu Seeds, and Rasi Seeds.

“The company is compelling cotton farmers at gun point to pay the extra amount, even as it collected lesser and variable royalties in other countries,” Reddy said.

He said Monsanto was banned from selling its products directly in Andhra Pradesh since 2004 after it failed to compensate the state farmers for loss of the BT cotton crop. The minister said BT cotton was grown in 5.85 lakh acres in five districts of the state.