Monsanto up over 3% on withdrawal of Bt cotton notification

Trimming most of its early gains, shares of Monsanto India ended over 3 per cent higher after the government withdrew a notification capping royalty fee for new genetically-modified seed technology amid opposition from the crop biotech industry.
The stock ended the day at Rs 2,135.25, up 2.78 per cent on BSE. Intra-day, it gained 6.84 per cent to Rs 2,219.65.
At NSE, shares of the company rose by 3.24 per cent to close at Rs 2,139.
Amid opposition from the crop biotech industry, the government yesterday withdrew a notification capping royalty for new genetically modified (GM) traits and would now seek comments from stakeholders before taking a final call.

"The notification regarding the guideline for Bt cotton technology issued on May 18 will be put in the public domain for 90 days, in the same form, for comments and suggestions of all stakeholders," an official statement said.
Biotech industry body ABLE-AG, which has members like Monsanto, Mahyco, Syngenta, DuPont Pioneer and Bayer BioScience, had opposed the government's notification, saying the decision would be a "huge blow" to innovators in agri-biotech industry.
Last week, the Agriculture Ministry issued a notification capping royalty fee for new genetically modified (GM) seeds at 10 per cent of the maximum sale price for the first five years.