With the aim of making India self-reliant in the cotton sector and increasing cotton production, the Cabinet on Tuesday approved Rs 5659.22 crore for “Mission for Cotton Productivity” to address bottlenecks, declining growth, and quality concerns that have long plagued the sector from achieving its true potential.
According to a PIB release, the mission aligns with the government's 5F vision (Farm to Fibre to Factory to Fashion to Foreign). “The Mission focuses on enhancing cotton productivity through development of High yielding variety (HYV) seeds resistant to disease and pests, scaling up of existing and latest crop production technologies through states governments, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, and State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) through large-scale promotion and adoption of the latest crop production technologies, ensures least contaminant cotton supply to industry, and promotes high-quality cotton exports,” the release stated. It is also expected to reduce dependency on imported cotton and save foreign exchange.
Industry experts have hailed the move, calling it a step in the right direction to increase cotton production from India. Kumar Duraiswamy, Joint Secretary, Tiruppur Exporters’ Association (TEA) states that this is a welcome move, especially since Indian cotton production is not keeping pace with other countries. “Indian average production per hectare is only 400 kgs whereas the international average is 800 kgs. Moreover, cotton quality is decreasing, and productivity per acreage is down by 20%. The production cost is also twice that of other countries. To mitigate such gaps, this cotton mission will greatly help in investing in the best seed and increasing the productivity and quality of the crop,” he says.
Affirming his views, Sanjay K Jain, Chairman of the ICC National Textiles Committee and Managing Director of TT Textiles, says a cotton productivity mission has been overdue for many years. “The last major shift we saw was during the BT cotton phase around 2003–04, when India witnessed a sharp jump in productivity and emerged as a cotton exporter. Since then, progress has largely stagnated. After peaking at around 400 lakh bales in 2010–12, cotton output has been on a consistent decline. That clearly indicates falling productivity. Today, despite having the largest area under cotton cultivation, India’s yield per hectare is among the lowest globally,” he says.
Jain adds that India is already trailing several regions, including parts of Africa and countries like Pakistan, where the gap has only widened. “In some cases, our productivity is nearly 25% of global benchmarks. This highlights the significant room for improvement,” he emphasises.
The Mission aims to accomplish the production of 498 lakh bales (170 kg lint each) of cotton by enhancing lint productivity from 440 kg/ha to 755 kg/ha by 2031. Approximately 32 lakh farmers are expected to benefit from this initiative.
Elaborating further on his point, Jain says that India’s cotton yield stands at roughly 450–500 kgs per hectare. In comparison, countries like Brazil and Australia achieve over 2,000 kgs per hectare, while China is above 1,200 kgs. “Even if we improve by 30–40%, we would still remain among the lowest globally. That shows the scale of opportunity,” he contends.
Global positioning
Experts in the industry also point to how this mission addresses a deep-rooted structural imbalance in India’s cotton ecosystem. “The Cotton Mission has the potential to provide a strong push toward India’s ambition of building a $350 billion textile and apparel industry by 2030. India’s dominance in textiles has been steadily weakening. Export growth has not kept pace with the targets required to reach $300 billion in overall industry size and $100 billion in exports. For that to happen, cotton remains the most critical raw material, and sustained focus on this segment is essential,” Ashwin Chandran, Chairman, Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) stated.
He notes that despite being one of the largest cotton producers globally, India’s productivity remains lower than many of its peers and impacts export competitiveness.
CITI is of the view that the Mission for Cotton Productivity is expected to increase farmer incomes while ensuring a steady supply of high-quality cotton. This, in turn, can help rejuvenate India’s traditional textile industry and strengthen its global positioning.
Benefit to MSMEs
For MSMEs in the trade, this announcement translates to strengthening the entire value chain. Sumit Jain, Director at Delhi-based Kanin Commerce, an exporter of cotton-based T-shirts and garments to Africa and the Middle East regions, says that this can help tackle some of the uncertainty faced by exporters like him amid fluctuating cotton rates. “Earlier, cotton rates were revised monthly, but now prices are changing almost every day. Additionally, are increasing without strong or clear market reasons behind such hikes, creating uncertainty for manufacturers and exporters. Stability in cotton pricing is extremely important for long-term planning, export commitments, and maintaining India’s competitiveness in global markets. We are hopeful that this mission will also help bring greater transparency and stability to the cotton sector,” he says.
Rohan Gupta, MD & CFO at Delhi-based Gargee Designer’s echoes similar sentiments, saying that better quality and consistency of cotton products will not only help improve the manufacturing process domestically but will also give Indian brands an edge in international markets. “With its emphasis on cultivation of quality and climatically resistant seeds, modern farming techniques, traceability and infrastructure development, this mission can prove extremely beneficial for the Indian textile textile industry,” he says, adding that a focus on increasing technology adoption in addition to investments in policies will help this mission achieve better outcomes.
Key focus for India
In fact, as one of the mission's objectives, robust branding and traceability initiatives under Kasturi Cotton Bharat are also aimed at positioning Indian cotton as a premium, sustainable, and globally trusted product. It will strengthen Kasturi Cotton Bharat as a globally recognised premium-quality cotton brand.
Neelesh Hundekari, Senior Partner, Kearney, talks of the holistic approach that such measures will bring about. “I see this as a comprehensive, end-to-end push for the cotton value chain. It is not limited to one segment but addresses the entire ecosystem-from farmers and sourcing to procurement and overall competitiveness,” he says.
Alluding to his point further, Hundekari states that the initiative covers key elements such as research into high-yielding seed varieties, better farming practices, and interventions at both the farm and mandi levels. “It is a well-rounded policy aimed at improving output and strengthening the supply chain. At the same time, it will help India become more self-reliant in cotton and ensure adequate availability for both domestic consumption and exports. Ultimately, improving productivity is not possible without innovation. Countries that have higher yields have consistently invested in better seeds, advanced farming techniques, and technology adoption. That is where India needs to focus,” he asserts.
Source Name : Economic Times