In a move towards updating the 2014 guidelines for the sharing of benefits arising from the access and use of genetic/biological resources, the National Biodiversity Board (NBA) has proposed the draft Access and Benefit Sharing Guidelines (ABS Guidelines) in April 2019. These are proposed as regulations under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002. The draft mostly borrows from the existing ABS Guidelines 2014 as far as the options of monetary and non-monetary benefits are concerned. However, the draft attempts to go beyond the statute in several instances, such as issuing binding directions to State Biodiversity Boards on benefit sharing and in defining what is exempt by “conventional breeding”. Such extravagant provisions are likely to render the draft ultra vires if and when implemented.