Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Co., an Indian seed breeder partly owned by Monsanto Co., plans to develop the country’s first genetically modified wheat and rice in the next three to five years, a company official said. The company is working on various traits of genetically altered grains that can withstand drought and salinity, Usha Barwale Zehr, the chief technology officer at Mahyco, said in a telephone interview yesterday. India’s government in February rejected the nation’s first gene-modified food, brinjal, or eggplant, after protests by farmers.