What is NBPGR and when was it founded?

NBPGR — the ICAR–National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources — is the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)'s nodal institute for the collection, exchange, quarantine, characterisation, evaluation, conservation and documentation of plant genetic resources (PGR) for food and agriculture. Its lineage begins with the Plant Introduction Division of IARI, set up in 1946 at the Pusa Campus, New Delhi to systematise the introduction of foreign crop germplasm. That division was carved out of IARI and elevated to a full ICAR Bureau — the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources — in 1976. NBPGR reports to ICAR under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India.

Where is NBPGR headquartered?

NBPGR's headquarters is on the Pusa Campus, New Delhi 110012 — the same 500-acre campus that houses ICAR-IARI, ICAR-NCIPM, ICAR-NAARM's Delhi presence and the ICAR headquarters at Krishi Bhawan and KAB (Krishi Anusandhan Bhawan). NBPGR's headquarters houses the National Genebank complex, the Plant Quarantine Division (with containment and post-entry quarantine facilities), the germplasm-exchange section, the divisions of Germplasm Evaluation, Germplasm Conservation, Plant Exploration and Germplasm Collection, and Genomic Resources. NBPGR also operates ten regional / base stations distributed across India's agro-ecological zones.

What does the National Genebank at NBPGR hold, and how big is it?

The National Genebank (NGB) at NBPGR is one of the world's largest ex situ collections of plant genetic resources — comparable in scale to the USDA National Plant Germplasm System and the CGIAR gene banks. The NGB holds 470,000+ accessions across four complementary modules: (1) a Seed Genebank with a long-term Base Collection at -18°C (30–50 year storage) and a medium-term Active Collection at 4°C for immediate distribution; (2) an In Vitro Genebank for vegetatively propagated species that cannot be seed-stored (cassava, sweet potato, banana, sugarcane, tuber crops); (3) a Cryobank that conserves recalcitrant and vegetatively propagated germplasm in liquid nitrogen at -196°C for indefinite storage; and (4) Field Genebanks at NBPGR regional stations for perennial fruit trees, medicinal plants and other species that cannot be reduced to seed or tissue.

What is NBPGR's statutory role in plant quarantine?

NBPGR is the sole ICAR institution empowered under the Destructive Insects and Pests Act, 1914 (DIP Act) to clear plant germplasm imported into India for research and breeding purposes — a statutory role unique to NBPGR. Every seed, tuber, tissue-culture or plant sample imported by a public-sector research institution, State Agricultural University or private breeder for research use is routed through NBPGR's Plant Quarantine Division at Pusa (with satellite quarantine at NBPGR regional stations for regionally targeted material). The Division runs visual inspection, X-ray radiography, incubation, ELISA and PCR-based pathogen detection, entomological and nematological screening, post-entry quarantine in isolation greenhouses, and — where required — long post-entry quarantine periods for high-risk species such as sugarcane, banana, cocoa and grapes.

How does NBPGR operate India's obligations under ITPGRFA?

India is a Contracting Party to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), and NBPGR is the country's technical nodal agency. That role includes: hosting Annex-I crop germplasm in the National Genebank as part of the Multilateral System (MLS) of Access and Benefit-Sharing; issuing and receiving material under the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA); acting as the technical secretariat on PGR matters for the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare in ITPGRFA Governing Body meetings; and coordinating with CGIAR gene banks (IRRI, CIMMYT, ICARDA, ICRISAT, IITA, CIAT) on germplasm exchange. Complementary domestic laws — the Biological Diversity Act 2002 (NBA), the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act 2001 (PPV&FRA) and the DIP Act 1914 — set the surrounding legal frame.

What are Indigenous Collection (IC) numbers and NBPGR germplasm registration?

Every accession that enters the National Genebank at NBPGR is assigned a unique Indigenous Collection (IC) number that is the permanent national identifier for that germplasm — analogous to a PI number in the USDA system. IC numbers travel with the accession through all downstream distributions, publications and variety-release pedigrees. Separately, NBPGR operates the national Registration of Plant Germplasm scheme through the Plant Germplasm Registration Committee (PGRC): breeders and farmers can register germplasm lines that possess a novel, distinctive and useful trait — a nodulating chickpea genotype, an anthocyanin-rich rice landrace, a rust-resistant wheat wild relative — and receive an INGR (Indian National Genetic Resource) accession number, publicly recognising the contribution and depositing a reference sample in the NGB.

How does NBPGR connect to ICAR crop institutes and Central schemes?

NBPGR is the upstream germplasm pipeline for every ICAR crop institute. Pusa Basmati and Pusa wheat varieties from ICAR-IARI (see /iari), the DRR Dhan rice series from ICAR-IIRR (see /iirr) and the Arka horticultural varieties from ICAR-IIHR (see /iihr) all draw on parental lines and wild relatives conserved in the NBPGR National Genebank and cleared through the NBPGR Plant Quarantine Division. NBPGR-registered farmers' landraces frequently form the source of trait-donor parents. On the scheme side, NBPGR feeds into the recommended-variety pipeline of the National Food Security Mission (see /nfsm), the horticulture pipeline of MIDH (see /midh), the seed chain of BBSSL (see /bbssl) and — for indigenous landrace conservation — the extension outreach of KVKs coordinated through ATARI (see /atari).

NBPGR — ICAR–National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, Pusa Campus, New Delhi: India's National Gene Bank, Plant-Quarantine Nodal Agency and ITPGRFA Focal Point

The ICAR–National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), headquartered on the Pusa Campus, New Delhi 110012, is the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)'s nodal Bureau for the collection, exchange, quarantine, characterisation, evaluation, conservation and documentation of plant genetic resources (PGR) for food and agriculture. NBPGR is the custodian of the National Genebank (NGB)— one of the world's largest ex situ collections, with 470,000+ accessions across seed, in-vitro, cryo and field gene-bank modules — and the sole ICAR agency empowered under the Destructive Insects and Pests Act, 1914 to clear plant germplasm imported into or exported from India for research and breeding purposes. NBPGR is also India's technical nodal agency for the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), and the upstream germplasm pipeline that feeds ICAR-IARI, ICAR-IIRR, ICAR-IIHR and every ICAR crop institute.

At a glance

Body type: ICAR Bureau (a specialised ICAR institution focused on cross-cutting national functions rather than a single crop).
Founded: 1976, carved out of the Plant Introduction Division of IARI (which itself dates to 1946).
Headquarters: Pusa Campus, New Delhi 110012 — inside the same campus as ICAR-IARI, ICAR-NCIPM and adjacent to the ICAR headquarters at Krishi Bhawan / KAB.
Parent ministry: Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India (via DARE / ICAR).
National Genebank scale: 470,000+ accessions across four modules — long-term seed store (-18°C), medium-term active collection (4°C), in-vitro genebank, cryobank (-196°C liquid nitrogen), and field genebanks at regional stations.
Statutory role: sole ICAR institution empowered under the Destructive Insects and Pests Act, 1914 to conduct plant-quarantine clearance of imported and exported research germplasm.
Regional stations (10): Akola (Maharashtra), Bhowali (Uttarakhand), Cuttack (Odisha), Hyderabad (Telangana), Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Shillong (Meghalaya), Shimla (Himachal Pradesh), Srinagar (Jammu & Kashmir) and Thrissur (Kerala).
International role: India's technical nodal agency for the ITPGRFA Multilateral System, Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA) issuance and CGIAR germplasm exchange (IRRI, CIMMYT, ICARDA, ICRISAT, IITA, CIAT).
National identifier: assigns Indigenous Collection (IC) numbers to every accession; runs the Plant Germplasm Registration Committee (PGRC) that issues INGR numbers to novel farmer / breeder germplasm.
Journal: Indian Journal of Plant Genetic Resources (peer-reviewed, published by NBPGR / Indian Society of Plant Genetic Resources).
Website: nbpgr.ernet.in.

Origins — from the 1946 Plant Introduction Division to a 1976 ICAR Bureau

NBPGR's institutional history begins in 1946 with the establishment of the Plant Introduction Division at the Imperial Agricultural Research Institute (later ICAR-IARI) at Pusa Campus, New Delhi, under Dr Harbhajan Singh — the officer who effectively founded organised plant introduction and germplasm exchange in India. Over the next three decades the Plant Introduction Division built the first national systems for importing wheat, rice, maize, oilseed, pulse and vegetable germplasm from IARI's partners abroad, and cleared their entry through nascent plant-quarantine protocols. By the mid-1970s the scale of germplasm work — coupled with India's Green Revolution appetite for exotic crop genetic diversity, the emerging global concern about genetic erosion, and the FAO's push for national gene banks — made it clear that plant genetic resources needed a dedicated ICAR Bureau. The Government of India carved the Plant Introduction Division out of IARI and elevated it to the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) in 1976, on the same Pusa Campus. NBPGR sits alongside sister ICAR bureaux for animal (NBAGR, Karnal), fish (NBFGR, Lucknow), microbial (NBAIM, Mau) and agriculturally important insects (NBAII, Bengaluru) genetic resources.

The National Genebank — India's central PGR repository

The centrepiece of NBPGR is the National Genebank (NGB), commissioned in its present form on the Pusa Campus to store India's consolidated ex situ collection of plant genetic resources. The NGB is modular — four complementary sub-facilities designed for the biology of different species — and holds 470,000+ accessions (the count grows every year as fresh explorations, PGRC registrations and SMTA-received material are inducted):

Seed Genebank — a two-tier facility with a long-term Base Collection at -18°C (target 30–50 year viability for orthodox seed) and a medium-term Active Collection at 4°C from which working samples are distributed to breeders. Rice, wheat, maize, pearl millet, sorghum, pulses, oilseeds, vegetable and forage seeds dominate the seed genebank holdings.
In Vitro Genebank — for species that cannot be seed-stored (recalcitrant seed, obligate vegetative propagation or clonal dependence): sweet potato, cassava, yam, taro, tuber crops, banana, sugarcane, several fruit species and some medicinal plants are held as tissue-culture cultures under slow growth.
Cryobank— one of the world's largest plant cryopreservation facilities, conserving pollen, embryos, dormant buds, meristems and recalcitrant seed embryonic axes in liquid nitrogen at -196°C for indefinite storage. Cryopreservation is the only route for many tropical fruit species (mango, jackfruit, litchi), certain medicinal plants and pollen collections used in wide-hybridisation programmes.
Field Genebanks— living plantings of perennial fruit trees, medicinal plants, agroforestry species and other germplasm that cannot be reduced to seed or tissue, distributed across NBPGR's regional stations (Bhowali for temperate fruits, Thrissur for tropical fruits and tubers, Ranchi for underutilised species, Jodhpur for arid-zone germplasm and so on).

Every accession that enters the NGB is characterised for a minimum-descriptor set (crop-specific) and assigned a unique Indigenous Collection (IC) number — the permanent national identifier that travels with the accession through distributions, publications and eventual variety-release pedigrees.

Plant Quarantine — NBPGR's unique statutory role

NBPGR is the sole ICAR institution empowered under the Destructive Insects and Pests Act, 1914 (DIP Act) to clear plant germplasm imported into or exported out of India for research and breeding purposes. This is a role that no other ICAR crop institute duplicates. The NBPGR Plant Quarantine Division at Pusa (with satellite quarantine at NBPGR regional stations for regionally targeted material) runs:

Visual inspection and X-ray radiography for seed-borne insect infestation and internal seed damage.
Incubation, blotter and agar tests for seed-borne fungi; ELISA and PCR-based detection for seed-borne viruses and bacterial pathogens.
Entomological and nematological screening including soil-adherence checks and cyst-nematode extraction.
Post-entry quarantine in isolation greenhouses under controlled containment for material that cannot be cleared at the port.
Long post-entry quarantine periods (up to multiple growth seasons) for high-risk vegetatively propagated species — sugarcane, banana, cocoa, grapes, potato — where systemic viruses may take several cycles to express.

Beyond safeguarding Indian agriculture from exotic pest incursions (a role that has kept out many quarantine-listed pests over decades), the quarantine clearance path also makes NBPGR the administrative bottleneck through which every research germplasm import passes — giving India a single, auditable point of custody for exotic PGR entering the country.

Regional stations — ten across India's agro-ecological zones

NBPGR's ten regional / base stations extend the Bureau's germplasm-collection, characterisation, quarantine and field gene-bank work into agro-ecological zones that Delhi cannot effectively sample:

Akola (Maharashtra) — central Deccan dryland germplasm.
Bhowali (Uttarakhand) — Himalayan temperate fruit and hill-crop germplasm; field genebank for temperate fruit trees.
Cuttack (Odisha) — eastern-India rice, pulse and coastal-zone germplasm; interlocks with ICAR-NRRI Cuttack.
Hyderabad (Telangana) — semi-arid tropical germplasm; interlocks with ICAR-IIRR, ICAR-CRIDA and ICRISAT.
Jodhpur (Rajasthan) — arid-zone germplasm (pearl millet, moth bean, cluster bean, arid legumes); interlocks with ICAR-CAZRI.
Ranchi (Jharkhand) — Chhotanagpur plateau germplasm, underutilised crops, minor millets, tribal landraces.
Shillong (Meghalaya) — north-east germplasm, root and tuber crops, indigenous species of Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh.
Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) — north-western Himalayan temperate germplasm.
Srinagar (Jammu & Kashmir) — Kashmir Valley germplasm, apple and stone-fruit rootstocks, saffron and cold-desert species.
Thrissur (Kerala) — humid tropical germplasm, spices, tropical fruits, tubers; interlocks with ICAR-IISR Kozhikode and ICAR-CTCRI Thiruvananthapuram.

Germplasm exchange, ITPGRFA and the SMTA

India is a Contracting Party to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) — the FAO-negotiated, legally-binding framework that operates a Multilateral System (MLS)of facilitated access and benefit-sharing for 64 Annex-I food and forage crops on which global food security depends. NBPGR is India's technical nodal agency for the Treaty. In that role NBPGR:

Includes Indian holdings of Annex-I crop germplasm in the MLS (through the National Genebank).
Issues and receives germplasm under the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA) — the binding contract that governs every MLS transfer.
Provides the technical secretariat to the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare in ITPGRFA Governing Body meetings.
Coordinates operational germplasm exchange with the CGIAR gene banks — IRRI (rice), CIMMYT (wheat and maize), ICARDA (cool-season legumes, forages), ICRISAT (semi-arid tropical cereals and legumes), IITA (tropical roots and tubers) and CIAT (beans, cassava, forages) — under Article 15 of the Treaty.

The surrounding domestic legal frame is set by the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (administered by the National Biodiversity Authority), the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001(administered by PPV&FRA) and the DIP Act 1914 (administered through NBPGR's quarantine role).

Plant Germplasm Registration — the INGR system

NBPGR operates the national Plant Germplasm Registration Committee (PGRC) which recognises novel, distinctive and useful germplasm contributed by breeders, State Agricultural Universities and farmers. Registered accessions receive an INGR (Indian National Genetic Resource)accession number, are publicly notified through NBPGR communications and Indian Journal of Plant Genetic Resources, and a reference sample is deposited in the National Genebank. INGR registrations have formally recognised traits ranging from nodulating chickpea genotypes and anthocyanin-rich pigmented rice landraces to wild-relative wheat lines carrying novel rust-resistance genes. The PGRC route is complementary to variety notification under the Seeds Act and to farmers' variety registration under PPV&FRA — it recognises the germplasm itself, not the variety.

Divisions and academic role

NBPGR is organised into research divisions that between them cover the full PGR pipeline from field exploration to genomic characterisation:

Plant Exploration and Germplasm Collection — coordinates national and state-level germplasm exploration expeditions to hotspots of crop diversity: north-eastern India, the Western Ghats, the Aravallis, the arid zone, the Sundarbans, the Himalayan cold deserts and tribal belts.
Germplasm Conservation — runs the National Genebank (seed, in vitro, cryo, field modules) and viability monitoring.
Germplasm Evaluation — trait characterisation and evaluation using standardised crop descriptors (with the Indian Council of Plant Genetic Resources and Bioversity International descriptor lists as reference).
Plant Quarantine — the statutory quarantine division under the DIP Act 1914.
Genomic Resources — molecular characterisation, DNA fingerprinting, marker-assisted core-collection assembly, genotyping-by-sequencing for germplasm subsets.
Germplasm Exchange — the SMTA / MLS interface for domestic and international germplasm transfers.
Agricultural Knowledge Management Unit (AKMU) — runs the PGR Portal, the germplasm information system and the NBPGR public catalogue.

NBPGR is an affiliated academic partner of the IARI Post Graduate School. NBPGR scientists supervise M.Sc. and Ph.D. students in Genetics, Plant Breeding, Plant Pathology, Genomics and Plant Genetic Resources disciplines — enrolled through IARI PG School and jointly guided at the NBPGR Pusa laboratories.

NBPGR in India's wider PGR ecosystem

ICAR-IARI: the immediate campus neighbour on Pusa; the historical parent from whose Plant Introduction Division NBPGR was carved in 1976. Pusa Basmati and Pusa wheat lines draw on trait donors and wild relatives from the NBPGR National Genebank.
ICAR-IIRR: the coordinator of AICRIP; the DRR Dhan rice varietal series is built on rice germplasm that traces through NBPGR conservation and the IIRR / IIRR-partner breeding pipelines.
ICAR-IIHR:horticultural germplasm — the Arka varietal series in vegetables, fruits and flowers depends on the NBPGR–IIHR germplasm axis and on IIHR's own Division of Plant Genetic Resources.
ICAR-CRIDA and ICRISAT:rainfed and dryland germplasm — pearl millet, sorghum, chickpea, pigeonpea, groundnut — feeds through NBPGR's Jodhpur and Hyderabad stations and the CRIDA / ICRISAT breeding pipelines.
ICAR sister bureaux:NBAGR (Karnal — animal genetic resources), NBFGR (Lucknow — fish genetic resources), NBAIM (Mau — agriculturally important microbes) and NBAII (Bengaluru — agriculturally important insects). Together with NBPGR they form ICAR's five bureaux for biological genetic resources.
NFSM — National Food Security Mission: the Centrally Sponsored Scheme whose recommended varieties rest on breeding pipelines that draw on NBPGR-conserved germplasm.
MIDH: Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture — the horticulture-mission delivery envelope for varieties whose germplasm originates in the NBPGR–IIHR pipeline.
BBSSL and SATHI: the multi-state seed cooperative and the national seed-traceability system whose upstream variety pipeline draws on NBPGR-conserved germplasm through the ICAR breeding institutes.
ATARI and KVK network: for extension of on-farm PGR conservation, community seed banks and traditional landrace revival programmes.
CGIAR gene banks:IRRI (Los Baños), CIMMYT (Mexico), ICARDA (Beirut / Rabat), ICRISAT (Patancheru), IITA (Ibadan), CIAT (Cali) — India's external germplasm-exchange partners under the ITPGRFA MLS.
Svalbard Global Seed Vault (Norway):NBPGR is one of the many national gene banks that maintains a duplicate safety back-up of Indian accessions in the Svalbard vault, insulating India's PGR heritage from local catastrophic loss.

How different stakeholders engage with NBPGR

Public-sector breeders (ICAR institutes and SAUs): request germplasm from the National Genebank by IC number or trait; submit new collections and elite lines for conservation and IC-number assignment; deposit reference samples for INGR registration.
State Agricultural Universities: collaborate on state-level germplasm-exploration expeditions with the Plant Exploration Division; use NBPGR-cleared exotic germplasm in their breeding programmes; register novel germplasm with the PGRC.
Private breeders and seed companies:access MLS Annex-I germplasm through SMTA; import proprietary parental lines only through NBPGR's quarantine clearance; participate in the Genomic Resources core-collection projects.
Farmers and community seed banks:submit farmers' landraces and traditional varieties for INGR registration; access community-seed-bank guidelines from NBPGR's AKMU and regional stations.
Central schemes: NBPGR-conserved germplasm feeds into the varietal pipelines of NFSM, MIDH and PKVY organic-cluster recommendations.
International partners:CGIAR gene banks, Bioversity International, FAO ITPGRFA Governing Body, USDA-ARS (GRIN), and national gene banks of partner countries — all interact with India's PGR system through NBPGR.

IARI

ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa — the parent institution from whose 1946 Plant Introduction Division NBPGR was carved out in 1976; NBPGR sits on the same Pusa Campus.

IIRR

ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research, Rajendranagar — the AICRIP-coordinating rice institute whose DRR Dhan lineage draws on NBPGR-conserved rice germplasm and NBPGR Hyderabad regional station holdings.

IIHR

ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru — the horticultural institute whose Arka varietal series interlocks with NBPGR's horticultural germplasm holdings.

CRIDA

ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad — the rainfed / dryland flagship institute; interlocks with NBPGR's Hyderabad and Jodhpur stations on arid-zone and dryland germplasm.

NFSM

National Food Security Mission — the Centrally Sponsored Scheme whose recommended-variety pipeline sits on breeding programmes that draw on NBPGR-conserved germplasm.

MIDH

Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture — horticultural-mission envelope whose varietal recommendations draw on the NBPGR–IIHR germplasm axis.

BBSSL

Bharatiya Beej Sahakari Samiti Limited — multi-state seed cooperative whose varietal portfolio rests on ICAR breeding pipelines fed by NBPGR-conserved germplasm.

SATHI

Seed Authentication, Traceability and Holistic Inventory — the national seed-traceability system whose upstream variety chain draws on NBPGR-conserved parental germplasm.

ATARI

Eleven ICAR zonal institutes coordinating KVKs — the extension channel for on-farm PGR conservation, community seed banks and landrace-revival programmes rooted in NBPGR holdings.

Universities & Research Institutes

Full directory of Indian SAUs, ICAR institutes and agricultural universities.

References

nbpgr.ernet.in — ICAR-NBPGR corporate portal: divisions, National Genebank catalogue, Plant Quarantine Division, regional stations, INGR registration and germplasm-exchange information.
icar.org.in — Indian Council of Agricultural Research portal — parent institution of NBPGR and coordinator of the ICAR bureau system.
fao.org/plant-treaty — FAO Secretariat of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA); NBPGR is India's technical nodal agency.
plantauthority.gov.in — Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Authority — the domestic sui-generis IP frame complementary to the NBPGR PGRC INGR route.
nbaindia.org — National Biodiversity Authority — the ABS regulator under the Biological Diversity Act 2002 that governs access to Indian biodiversity outside the ITPGRFA MLS.
Press Information Bureau (PIB) — releases on NBPGR accession milestones, National Genebank capacity additions, INGR registrations and India's ITPGRFA engagements.

Frequently asked questions

What is NBPGR and when was it founded?: NBPGR — the ICAR–National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources — is the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)'s nodal institute for the collection, exchange, quarantine, characterisation, evaluation, conservation and documentation of plant genetic resources (PGR) for food and agriculture. Its lineage begins with the Plant Introduction Division of IARI, set up in 1946 at the Pusa Campus, New Delhi to systematise the introduction of foreign crop germplasm. That division was carved out of IARI and elevated to a full ICAR Bureau — the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources — in 1976. NBPGR reports to ICAR under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India.
Where is NBPGR headquartered?: NBPGR's headquarters is on the Pusa Campus, New Delhi 110012 — the same 500-acre campus that houses ICAR-IARI, ICAR-NCIPM, ICAR-NAARM's Delhi presence and the ICAR headquarters at Krishi Bhawan and KAB (Krishi Anusandhan Bhawan). NBPGR's headquarters houses the National Genebank complex, the Plant Quarantine Division (with containment and post-entry quarantine facilities), the germplasm-exchange section, the divisions of Germplasm Evaluation, Germplasm Conservation, Plant Exploration and Germplasm Collection, and Genomic Resources. NBPGR also operates ten regional / base stations distributed across India's agro-ecological zones.
What does the National Genebank at NBPGR hold, and how big is it?: The National Genebank (NGB) at NBPGR is one of the world's largest ex situ collections of plant genetic resources — comparable in scale to the USDA National Plant Germplasm System and the CGIAR gene banks. The NGB holds 470,000+ accessions across four complementary modules: (1) a Seed Genebank with a long-term Base Collection at -18°C (30–50 year storage) and a medium-term Active Collection at 4°C for immediate distribution; (2) an In Vitro Genebank for vegetatively propagated species that cannot be seed-stored (cassava, sweet potato, banana, sugarcane, tuber crops); (3) a Cryobank that conserves recalcitrant and vegetatively propagated germplasm in liquid nitrogen at -196°C for indefinite storage; and (4) Field Genebanks at NBPGR regional stations for perennial fruit trees, medicinal plants and other species that cannot be reduced to seed or tissue.
What is NBPGR's statutory role in plant quarantine?: NBPGR is the sole ICAR institution empowered under the Destructive Insects and Pests Act, 1914 (DIP Act) to clear plant germplasm imported into India for research and breeding purposes — a statutory role unique to NBPGR. Every seed, tuber, tissue-culture or plant sample imported by a public-sector research institution, State Agricultural University or private breeder for research use is routed through NBPGR's Plant Quarantine Division at Pusa (with satellite quarantine at NBPGR regional stations for regionally targeted material). The Division runs visual inspection, X-ray radiography, incubation, ELISA and PCR-based pathogen detection, entomological and nematological screening, post-entry quarantine in isolation greenhouses, and — where required — long post-entry quarantine periods for high-risk species such as sugarcane, banana, cocoa and grapes.
How does NBPGR operate India's obligations under ITPGRFA?: India is a Contracting Party to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), and NBPGR is the country's technical nodal agency. That role includes: hosting Annex-I crop germplasm in the National Genebank as part of the Multilateral System (MLS) of Access and Benefit-Sharing; issuing and receiving material under the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA); acting as the technical secretariat on PGR matters for the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare in ITPGRFA Governing Body meetings; and coordinating with CGIAR gene banks (IRRI, CIMMYT, ICARDA, ICRISAT, IITA, CIAT) on germplasm exchange. Complementary domestic laws — the Biological Diversity Act 2002 (NBA), the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act 2001 (PPV&FRA) and the DIP Act 1914 — set the surrounding legal frame.
What are Indigenous Collection (IC) numbers and NBPGR germplasm registration?: Every accession that enters the National Genebank at NBPGR is assigned a unique Indigenous Collection (IC) number that is the permanent national identifier for that germplasm — analogous to a PI number in the USDA system. IC numbers travel with the accession through all downstream distributions, publications and variety-release pedigrees. Separately, NBPGR operates the national Registration of Plant Germplasm scheme through the Plant Germplasm Registration Committee (PGRC): breeders and farmers can register germplasm lines that possess a novel, distinctive and useful trait — a nodulating chickpea genotype, an anthocyanin-rich rice landrace, a rust-resistant wheat wild relative — and receive an INGR (Indian National Genetic Resource) accession number, publicly recognising the contribution and depositing a reference sample in the NGB.
How does NBPGR connect to ICAR crop institutes and Central schemes?: NBPGR is the upstream germplasm pipeline for every ICAR crop institute. Pusa Basmati and Pusa wheat varieties from ICAR-IARI (see /iari), the DRR Dhan rice series from ICAR-IIRR (see /iirr) and the Arka horticultural varieties from ICAR-IIHR (see /iihr) all draw on parental lines and wild relatives conserved in the NBPGR National Genebank and cleared through the NBPGR Plant Quarantine Division. NBPGR-registered farmers' landraces frequently form the source of trait-donor parents. On the scheme side, NBPGR feeds into the recommended-variety pipeline of the National Food Security Mission (see /nfsm), the horticulture pipeline of MIDH (see /midh), the seed chain of BBSSL (see /bbssl) and — for indigenous landrace conservation — the extension outreach of KVKs coordinated through ATARI (see /atari).

The Plant Introduction Division (1946) → NBPGR (1976) lineage, the Pusa Campus (New Delhi 110012) headquarters, the National Genebank modular architecture (seed / in-vitro / cryo / field), the ten NBPGR regional stations, the DIP Act 1914 plant-quarantine role, the ITPGRFA MLS / SMTA framework, the IC and INGR numbering systems, and the CGIAR-partner germplasm-exchange interface above draw on publicly available material on nbpgr.ernet.in, icar.org.in, fao.org/plant-treaty and PIB releases. Accession totals, regional-station rosters, INGR registrations and MLS notifications are periodically revised — confirm current details on nbpgr.ernet.in before germplasm import, registration or exchange requests.