National Seeds Corporation (A Govt. of India Undertaking)

rds. Its seeds are evaluated for quality standards by independent seed certification agencies besides internal quality checks and laboratory tests in its own Seed Testing Laboratories located at Delhi, Secunderabad, Pune, Bhopal and Kolkata. To meet the twin challenges of providing food and nutritional security to the countrymen, the agriculture production especially of the foodgrain crops has to be increased on sustained basis so as to achieve self-sufficiency in all major crops like cereals, pulses, oilseeds, fibres and fodder, etc. For achieving the above objectives, seed is one of the critical inputs besides other inputs like fertilizer, irrigation, plant protection, farm practices etc. With the help of the ICAR and SAUs, NSC has been in the business of multiplication and production of seeds of all major crops. The combined production of NSC, SFCI alongwith 15 other State Seeds Corporations was 171 lakh qntls. of certified seed during the year 2009-10 out of which NSC’s own share was around 10%. NSC is the single largest producer of certified seeds in the country in terms of quantity and third largest company in terms of turnover amongst all the seed producing companies including private sector. NSC ensures to provide quality seeds of high yielding varieties and hybrids of all major cereal crops like Paddy, Wheat, Maize, Pulses like Bengalgram, Redgram, Greengram and Blackgram, Oilseeds like Soyabean, Groundnut, Mustard, etc. As a result of these efforts by NSC and other State Agencies, Seed Replacement Ratio (SRR) in the country has improved to about 25% in case of self-pollinated crops which was around 10% about a decade ago.The seed produced by NSC is distributed among the farmers under various Schemes of Government of India like NFSM, ISOPOM, RKVY and Minikits for demonstration, both through State Agriculture Departments/State Seed Corporations as well as through its vast network of dealers and distributors throughout the country. With its Head Office at Delhi, 11 Regional Offices in the State Capitals and 83 Area Offices located throughout the country, NSC is well placed to take advantage of the best agro-climatic conditions for seed production programme to meet the growing needs of the farming community of the country, besides placing some seeds in the reserve in the Seed Bank which are utilized at the time of exigencies like drought, floods, cyclone etc. Apart from its core activity of production and distribution of seed, NSC is also imparting training to the farmers as well as to the technical staff involved in the seed production of different institutions including State Seed Corporations. NSC is the Nodal Agency for monitoring and implementation of infrastructure development in the private sector for creation of processing and storage facilities for which Government of India is providing financial assistance to the extent of 25% of the project cost. The current paid up capital of NSC is Rs. 20.62 crores and its networth is around Rs.194.00 crores. The production of NSC has increased from 4.72 lakh qntls. in the year 2005-06 to 16.91 lakh qntls. in 2010-11, while the turnover of the Corporation jumped from the level of Rs.105 crores to around Rs. 640 crores during the same period. Similarly, gross profit of the Corporation has increased from Rs. 7.16 crores in the year 2005-06 to around Rs. 80.00 crores in 2010-11. The Corporation has been paying dividend on its paid up share capital to Government of India continuously from the year 2006-07 onwards and paid 11% dividend for the year 2009-10.