Seeds form an important element for sustaining human life (through food production) and social relations (by maintaining agricultural socialities). Therefore, conservation and management of seeds are essential for plant breeding, agricultural production and to meet the growing food demand of the increasing population. However, the changed use of these resources through enclosures and appropriation of the Intellectual Property Rights creates underutilisation of these resources, risking their important societal role. This research therefore analysed how seeds can render their benefits within the Indian context operating as commons or opposed to enclosures and appropriations. The four cases analysed in the study found that the informal seed exchanges and sharing that takes place between different farmers and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) makes seeds function as commons in the Indian context. Thus, the research establishes that sharing and exchanges of seeds leads to their better functioning than patenting or creating property rights over them.