The first agreement to develop Bt Brinjal was signed in 2005[REF] between India's leading seed company, Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company, better known as Mahyco, and two agricultural universities - University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad (UAS) and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) in Coimbatore.
An expert committee (EC-I) was set up in 2006 to examine the biosafety data presented by Mahyco.