CropLife India on Friday urged the government to reduce goods and services tax (GST) on agrochemicals to 12 per cent and maintain a uniform 10 per cent basic customs duty for technical raw materials and formulations in its upcoming Budget proposal. The industry body also demanded a 200 per cent weighted deduction on research and development (R&D) expenses for agrochemical companies and requested fund allocation to strengthen agricultural extension mechanisms. "We request the government to create an ecosystem around a science-based, progressive, and predictive regulatory framework that will allow the sector to become globally competitive," the industry body said in a statement. Key demands include: lowering GST from 18 per cent to 12 per cent, maintaining uniform 10 per cent customs duty for both technical raw material and formulations, providing a 200 per cent R&D expense deduction and extending R&D benefits to units with a minimum Rs 50 crore fixed assets and Rs 10 crore .