Textile industry calls for removal of import duty on cotton

The Committee on Cotton Production and Consumption recently estimated cotton production this year to be 292.15 lakh bales (of 170 kg each), which will be nearly five lakh bales less than the previous season that ended on September 30, 2025.

However, the demand is expected to be 337 lakh bales compared with 340 lakh bales last season. “When the availability is less than the production, why should there be restrictions on imports,” said K. Selvaraju, secretary general of the Southern India Mills Association.

The government extended in August this year the import duty exemption on cotton till December 31, 2025.

The industry is demanding removal of the import duty so that the micro, small and medium-scale enterprises get raw material at affordable prices.

The average cotton productivity in India is 440 kg a hectare as against 1,900 to 2,000 kg a hectare in Brazil. The ₹5,900 crore Cotton Mission announced by the Centre in the Union Budget is yet to take off. India needs to focus on seed quality and productivity so that cotton production does not decline.

The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) procures cotton at the MSP from the farmers. But, the textile industry needs raw material at internationally competitive prices, industry associations said.

The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry chairman Ashwin Chandran said that at a time when the ongoing uncertainty on the US tariff remains a major concern for the textile and apparel sector, and with cotton production likely to decline and fibre quality expected to deteriorate due to unseasonal rains, removal of import duty will reduce the divergence between domestic and global prices.

Atul Ganatra, president of the Cotton Association of India, said the CCI buys cotton at MSP and sells it after four months at ₹65,000 a candy. Brazil cotton is available at a lower price even with the import duty. If the CCI sells the cotton it buys immediately, cotton imports will decline, he added.