For the first time in over 5 decades, the Indian government has granted public funding to a cannabis research project, with ramifications which will determine ‘whether India can build a credible pharmaceutical industry’ around cannabis. 

Delta Botanicals & Research, a Bhubaneswar-based cannabis and hemp research firm, has secured a government grant from the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare to undertake research into cannabis genetics. 

Over the coming months, Delta will be tasked with developing seed varieties able to produce stable industrial hemp and medical cannabis in India. 

Vikramm Mitra, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Delta, told Business of Cannabis: “If we can solve the genetics problem, it changes everything. 

“Without stable genetics, you cannot standardise extracts, and without standardisation, you cannot build a pharmaceutical market… This is not just a research project; it is about building the foundation of India’s entire cannabis industry.”

The grant 

The grant marks the first known instance of government-backed cannabis seed breeding and research funding to a company in India since the introduction of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act in 1985. 

This is, in itself, a major milestone in the advancement of cannabis in the country. However, should it succeed, it could see cannabis-based drugs establish a foothold in ‘the Pharmacy of the World’, where 20% of the planet’s generic drugs supply is made. 

Awarded by Prime Minister’s Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana’s National Farmers Development Scheme and supported by the agri-business incubation centre of Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, the funding will support a multi-year research programme aimed at solving what Mitra describes as the most critical, but least discussed issues holding the country’s cannabis market back from its massive potential.

“One of the biggest bottlenecks in India’s cannabis ecosystem is rarely discussed, seeds,” he explained. “Without stable genetics, everything downstream becomes difficult, from cultivation to clinical research. And this is precisely where India’s cannabis ecosystem is currently falling short. Until this is addressed, the industry will struggle to scale in a truly compliant and scientific manner.

The project will focus on the phenotyping and genotyping of cannabis landraces sourced from regions including the Himalayas and Odisha, alongside controlled indoor and outdoor cultivation trials. 

Its end goal is to develop seed varieties capable of consistently meeting regulatory thresholds for industrial hemp, while also supporting the standardisation required for pharmaceutical development.

This upstream challenge has long been overlooked in favour of more visible issues such as licensing, product development, and regulation. However, without genetically consistent plant material, both agricultural and medical applications face significant limitations.

In the case of industrial hemp, unstable genetics can result in crops exceeding legally permitted THC thresholds, rendering them non-compliant and commercially unviable. For pharmaceutical applications, variability in plant chemistry makes it difficult to produce standardised extracts or generate reproducible clinical data, both of which are essential for regulatory approval.

“The pharmaceutical journey does not begin in the laboratory,’ Mitra said. ‘It begins with the plant.”

The issue is particularly acute in India, where regulators are increasingly emphasising the need for robust, locally generated data. According to Mitra, discussions with policymakers have repeatedly highlighted the absence of India-specific evidence, both in terms of clinical outcomes and agricultural inputs.

“What regulators are asking for is very clear data. Not just international data, but data generated on Indian populations and from plants grown in Indian conditions.”

India’s unique cannabis landscape

The grant comes at a time when India’s cannabis market is expanding rapidly, but not always in a coordinated or standardised way.

A significant portion of India’s legal cannabis market operates under an Ayurveda framework, the country’s traditional system of medicine, which differs fundamentally from modern pharmaceutical approaches.

In simple terms, Ayurveda treats cannabis, referred to as ‘Vijaya’, not as an isolated compound such as CBD or THC, but as part of a broader herbal formulation. Products are typically made by combining cannabis with multiple other plant ingredients, based on formulations documented in historical medical texts.

This framework has enabled the rapid growth of cannabis-based products in India, particularly oils, capsules, and ingestibles marketed for conditions such as pain, anxiety, and sleep. However, it has also created challenges.

Because Ayurveda does not traditionally isolate or quantify cannabinoids, many products do not specify precise levels of active compounds, and standardised dosing remains inconsistent. This stands in contrast to pharmaceutical models, where precise composition and reproducibility are essential.

As a result, while the Ayurvedic pathway has driven early market expansion, it has also contributed to a gap between commercial availability and scientific validation, a gap that regulators are now beginning to address through stricter oversight. 

On the commercial side, companies are increasingly experimenting with new product formats, moving beyond oils and capsules into gummies, beverages, and other ingestible formats. Some of these products are being approved under Ayurvedic frameworks, despite functioning in practice as lifestyle or recreational-adjacent offerings.

This shift is being driven in part by changing consumer behaviour. Demand is rising among younger, urban consumers with higher disposable income, who are more open to plant-based alternatives and willing to experiment with new formats.

Even global ecommerce platforms like Amazon have also begun permitting certain hemp-derived and topical products, signalling a gradual normalisation of the category.

However, oversight is also tightening in key areas. Approval for new cannabis-based Ayurvedic formulations has moved from the state level to central authorities, with stricter requirements around safety, toxicity, and supporting data.

This change reflects growing concern among regulators that cannabis products approved as medicines are being used for non-medical purposes. As a result, the pathway for launching new proprietary products has become considerably more complex, with few new approvals granted under the updated system.

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Fundamental structural challenges

Despite the growth in products and consumer demand, the sector’s development is still constrained by deeply entrenched structural issues. 

A key example is the lack of standardised raw materials. Much of the cannabis used in legal production is derived from variable sources, leading to inconsistencies in cannabinoid content and overall composition. This has implications not only for product quality but also for dosing, safety, and clinical credibility.

The absence of stable seed genetics compounds this issue. Without reliable plant inputs, companies struggle to produce consistent outputs, undermining efforts to build a more evidence-based and medically credible market.

This dynamic also impacts cannabis cultivation. States such as Uttarakhand have issued licences for industrial hemp farming, but uptake has been limited, in part due to the lack of compliant seed varieties suited to local conditions.

According to Mitra, this has created a bottleneck that affects the entire value chain, from farmers to manufacturers and researchers.

Why is this research so critical?

Delta’s research project is intended to address these gaps by generating domestically validated genetic data and developing seed varieties tailored to Indian conditions.

In the short term, the research is expected to produce baseline datasets on cannabis genetics and cultivation performance across different environments. Over a longer timeframe, the aim is to develop stable, compliant varieties that can be used for both industrial hemp and medicinal applications.

Mitra believes this could have a ripple effect across the sector, enabling more reliable cultivation, supporting research and development, and potentially informing future regulatory changes.

One area where this could prove particularly significant is in the ongoing debate around THC thresholds for industrial hemp. India currently follows a 0.3% limit in some jurisdictions, a standard derived from international models, but not necessarily suited to local conditions.

“To have that discussion with regulators, we need data,” Mitra said. “If we can show that certain varieties remain stable at different thresholds under Indian conditions, that opens the door to more practical and effective policies.”

Over the next three to five years, he expects the work to contribute to a more robust cultivation ecosystem, with greater participation from licensed growers and increased interest from other states exploring cannabis policy frameworks.

While the grant represents a notable development, it remains an early step in what is likely to be a long-term process. 

Nevertheless, the move highlights a growing recognition that India’s cannabis industry cannot rely solely on demand or product innovation to scale. Instead, its future may depend on addressing the less visible, but more fundamental, components of the value chain.

As Mitra put it: “Before we talk about products, we need to fix the plant itself.”