In a major effort to compete with private seed companies, three prestigious agriculture institutes across the country have developed ’Bikaneri narma’, a new biotech cotton variety which is not only pest-resistant, but also cheaper than the other varieties available in the market. The New Delhi-based Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI), Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR) in Nagpur and University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) in Dharwad have jointly developed the cotton variety. The National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology (NRCPB) at IARI had worked for over 10 years towards the development of the biotech gene on the popular Bikaneri variety cotton, used by farmers across the country, and transferred it to the CICR and UAS for field trials.