Sea6 Energy receives first patent for red seaweeds based Biostimulant in India

A new era in agriculture has started with the government recognizing Biostimulants as a valuable plant growth promoter and granting the country’s first patent on Biostimulants to home-grown start-up, Sea6Energy, Bangalore.

“We are proud to have been granted this patent by the Indian Patent Office (IPO) after rigorous examination procedure,” said Shrikumar Suryanarayan, Managing Director of Sea6 Energy. The product had already got patents in the USA, Europe, Japan, China, Malaysia, Australia and South Africa.

The Indian patent was granted last week based on Sea6 Energy’s application  filed in May 2015 and is for "A biostimulant formulation for improving plant growth and uses thereof” and is valid for 20 years. Sea6 energy has discovered and patented some unique molecules from cultivated red seaweeds that can specifically bring about these effects in plants and these compositions are the subject of their granted patents.

Recognition of Biostimulants as a new category of products was possible in India only after the government announced the Fertilizer (Inorganic, Organic or Mixed) (Control) Amendment Order 2021, on February 23, 2021. The amended order, recognizing the new products states that “biostimulant”  means a substance or microorganism or a combination of both whose primary  function when applied to plants, seeds or rhizosphere is to stimulate  physiological processes in plants and to enhance its nutrient uptake, growth,  yield, nutrition efficiency, crop quality and tolerance to stress, regardless of its  nutrient content, but does not include pesticides or plant growth regulators  which are regulated under the Insecticide Act, 1968.

India is a large agricultural market and is Sea6’s home base, where its research and development is located in Bangalore. The company was started in 2010 in the Campus of IIT Madras by several IITM alumni as its co-founders. Sea6 also has a fully owned subsidiary in Indonesia where part of the manufacturing for this product is carried out.

“The grant of this patent in India, is especially significant in the context of the newly gazetted laws on Biostimulant in India,” said Suryanarayan. Biostimulants are an exciting new class of agricultural inputs that can improve the efficiency of nutrient usage and relive abiotic and other stresses in plants induced by climate change. India has taken a lead in this field and has been one of the earliest countries in the world to have formalized the regulations governing Biostimulant use in Agriculture.

Read original report on AgroSpectrum India>>