Policy Update
Suranjana Mitra
In the 2025-26 Budget, cotton farmers, who suffer from low productivity, have been provided with a huge relief with the announcement of a five-year Cotton Productivity Mission. The Department of Agricultural Research & Education (DARE) is the Nodal Department, responsible for the implementation of the Mission.
The Mission is expected to boost production and export of cotton and cotton products through strategic interventions which include research and extension activities across all cotton-growing states.
Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, announced the mission with a vision to improve productivity as well as sustainability of cotton farming and will promote the Extra-Long Staple (ELS) cotton varieties which will employ advanced breeding and biotechnology tools. The length of ELS cotton is more than 34.925 mm, such long fibres make it extra soft and equally strong. ELS cotton is also known as Pima Cotton and it is considered to be the finest cotton on earth. The Cotton Productivity mission is aligned with our integrated 5F vision (Farm to Fibre, Fabric, Fashion, and Foreign Markets) for the textile sector, which aims to strengthen the agriculture sector and improve textile exports.
Background
In India, Cotton is known as “White-Gold” because cotton is one of the principal export products of India and India’s cotton exports account for 25% of global production. India is the largest cotton producer in the world with over 13.06 million hectares being used for cotton production out of 33.1 million hectares globally. Cotton production faces different challenges due to climate change, unstable prices and global economic shocks.
Source: India Brand Equity Foundation
“The Cotton farmers were suffering despite an increase in the minimum support price (MSP) as the productivity has declined during the last decade due to lack of new technology to deal with the challenges of climate change,” said SK Sundararaman, chairman, South Indian Mills Association (SIMA).
Source: India Brand Equity Foundation
The Cotton Productivity Mission 2025 will focus on the best scientific and technological support that will be provided to the farmers. She said, “The mission will help in increasing incomes of the farmers as well as ensure a steady supply of quality cotton for rejuvenating India’s traditional textile sector.”
Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan emphasized on the mission’s role in boosting cotton production while ensuring superior fibre quality.
Performance
The last cotton mission was implemented from the year 2000 to 2013, and it helped in raising the cotton productivity by more than 80% or to 512 kilograms per hectare by the end of the mission. The pink bollworm has brought down India’s cotton production by a quarter in the last decade.
The cotton output in the 2024-25 marketing year (October-September) is estimated to be around 294 lakh bales (1 bale = 170 kg), which is lowest compared to the 290 lb of 2008-09. Cotton production in India peaked in 2013-14 with a production of 398 lb.
In order to avoid pink bollworm, few seed companies have developed new genetically modified hybrids resistant to the dreaded insect pest but regulatory barriers are coming in the way of their commercialisation. Such a drastic fall in production can be called catastrophic.
The huge success of the cotton industry (in the period of 2002-03 to 2013-14) is owed to the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) cotton hybrids, which incorporate alien genes isolated from a soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis or Bt.
However, exports have dipped and imports have been increasing every year. This unfortunate dip is resulting from the degradation of the quality of the cotton due to the pink bollworm pest. This also causes lint discolouration as the pests feed on the developing seeds and the lint.
Functioning
Fibre processing technologies will be enhanced and infrastructure will be developed for sustainable natural fibre production. The mission is expected to take off in 4-5 months or by the month of July or August.
The mission will be implemented at a cost of Rs 2,500 crores over five years and will have three mini missions. First mini mission – Kapas Kranti, which will focus on achieving better cotton yield and productivity for farmers through strategic interventions, such as research, extension and human resource development.
This mini mission will be led by the Central Institute for Cotton Research. The second mission will be led by the Cotton Corporation of India, will attempt to modernise 1,000 ginning and pressing units. The third mission will focus on promoting sustainable Natural fibres such as Banana, Milkweed and Bamboo.
The mission will be carried forward in a consultative mode, incorporating inputs from all stakeholders. The allocation for each mini mission will vary. The cotton productivity mission will establish traceability of Indian cotton with certification to match with the leading textile brands and retailers of the world.
The mission aims to boost textile exports which have been declining over the years. They dropped to $29.46 billion in FY21 from $33.83 billion in FY20. Although exports rose to $41.12 billion in FY22, they then fell to $35.55 billion in FY23 and further to $34.4 billion in FY24.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is focusing on a production-linked incentive scheme for the seed industry and has urged the government to introduce the same, administering into it, a research-linked incentive scheme. Through this the CII aims to improve India’s modest share of 1% in the global seed export market. With the help of appropriate policies, India has the potential to capture 10% of the $14-billion global seed trade, equivalent to Rs 10,000 crore, by 2028.
The budget allocation for the textile sector has been increased to Rs 5,252 crore in FY26 from Rs 3,342 crore in FY25.
Impact
The sector lacks the ability to fight the issue of pink bollworm disease which severely affects cotton productivity at present. Due to this, the yields of cotton have been declining to the point of stagnation of exporting raw cotton and cotton products. As a result, to satisfy its cotton needs, India is seeing a sharp increase in cotton imports and it is expected to be the highest in 2024-25 in the last six years. According to Atul Ganatra, president of the trade body Cotton Association of India, India has become import dependent even for the medium and small staple cotton.
According to the Industry estimates, more than 75% of the cotton produced in the country gets exported either in the form of yarn, fabric, garments, made ups or as raw cotton. The Central Zone of India (comprising States like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh) has been the biggest producer of cotton in India in 2022-23. The Southern Zone (comprising States like Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu) is the second largest producer of cotton. The Agriculture sector employs 42.3% of the population, contributing 16% to GDP. But due to different challenges such as climate change leads to inconsistent yields.
Source: India Brand Equity Foundation
The government is promoting extra-long staple (ELS) cotton which has the capacity to generate value added business of about Rs 60,000 crores by producing very high-end textiles and apparel which are produced mainly to satisfy the export markets, where the value addition is at least 10 times. ELS cotton is instrumental in making Kasturi cotton a success. Kasturi Cotton is a government initiative whose objective is creating premium value for cotton grown in India.
Rohit Sadaka, director of India Ratings and Research, said, “the exemption of basic custom duty on the textile machinery to promote agro-textiles, medical textiles and geo-textiles at competitive prices will reduce the capex (capital expenditure) cost. The custom Duty on looms for the textile industry has also been reduced from 7.5% to nil.” Two types of shuttleless looms have been added to the list of fully exempted textile machinery.
Emerging issues
The Cotton Textiles industry is the second largest employer of India after Agriculture. India’s cotton production has declined in recent years. In FY21, production slipped to 35 million bales followed by a further drop to 31 million bales in FY22, with a mild recovery to 33 million bales in FY23 but again production dipped to 32 million bales in FY24.
The decline in cotton production results from a range of issues such as climate change which has triggered new diseases due to the rise in temperature. New tobacco streak virus disease, pink bollworm, boll rot etc. Pest infestation takes a toll on the quality and yield of the crop.
The GM cotton grown in India have two Bt genes, “cry1Ac” and “cry2Ab”, which deter American bollworm, spotted bollworm and cotton leafworm pests. These initially used to provide some protection against PBW but PBW pest have gradually built resistance to these toxins as they are monophagous (they feed exclusively on cotton).
Way Forward
To increase cotton production, the focus should be on resolving these problems with a sustainable approach.
Crop rotation – in order to replenish nutrients to the land, crop rotation is necessary. Due to monoculture, the soil gets depleted of some nutrients as the same crop demands the same nutrients every time it is sown. Instead of replenishing the land with the help of fertilisers, crop rotation is a sustainable and ecologically balanced approach. High Density Planting System (HDPS) can be used, which employs a new cropping system where more plants can be accommodated per unit area.
Access to market – Cotton farmers have limited access to markets which leads them to sell to middlemen at nominal prices with negligible or no profit. Access to markets needs to be increased so that cotton farmers can directly sell cotton to industries at a proper price.
Focus on new methods – Many practices of cotton farming have become outdated as they are more time consuming and inefficient. New ways to improve crop production need to be adopted by the farmers. The Hyderabad-based Bioseed Research India, a division of DCM Shriram Ltd, is conducting confined field trials of hybrids based on its proprietary “BioCotX24A1” transgenic technology/ event expressing the “cry8Ea1” gene found in Bt. This is a good example of coming up with new varieties to deal with the persisting problem of PBW.
Infrastructure – Irrigation facilities and storage areas need to be devised by the government to provide the people with options to travel and access markets. Building roads will help with transportation. Storage units are required to store the cotton until the prices become favourable for selling.
References
- ABDULLA, M. M., GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, MINISTRY OF TEXTILES, & MARGHERITA, P. (2025). COTTON MISSION’ TO BOOST COTTON PRODUCTIVITY IN TAMIL NADU. RAJYA SABHA. https://sansad.in/getFile/annex/267/AU3350_oG5nm0.pdf?source=pqars
- Bhosale, J. (2025, February 1). Mission for Cotton Productivity to boost cotton production and exports, says industry. The Economic Times. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/mission-for-cotton-productivity-to-boost-cotton-production-and-exports-says-industry/articleshow/117837949.cms?from=mdr
- Budget announces Rs. 5272 crores for the Ministry of Textiles for the FY 2025-26.(n.d.). https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2099411
- Cotton manufacturing companies, cotton manufacturers and exporters in India – IBEF. (n.d.). India Brand Equity Foundation. https://www.ibef.org/exports/cotton-industry-india#:~:text=Introduction,Maharashtra’s%20major%20cotton%2Dproducing%20areas.
- Damodaran, H. (2025, April 7). Explained: The crisis in India’s cotton production, and what can help. The Indian Express. https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-economics/a-cotton-emergency-9928795/
- Kumar, D. (2025, February 1). Budget 2025: Five-year mission to be set up to increase cotton productivity, provide relief to farmers. Mint. https://www.livemint.com/budget/budget-2025-cotton-productivity-cotton-mission-farmers-agriculture-crop-yields-pulses-11738390362068.html
- Preetha, M. S. (2025, March 1). Mission on Cotton Productivity expected to take off in 4-5 months. The Hindu. https://www.thehindu.com/business/mission-on-cotton-productivity-expected-to-take-off-in-4-5-months/article69279388.ece
- User, U. (2025, February 3). Cotton Productivity Mission launched to enhance quality. Universal Group of Institutions. https://universalinstitutions.com/cotton-productivity-mission-launched-to-enhance-quality/
About the Author: Suranjana Mitra is a Research Intern at IMPRI and holds a postgraduate degree in Political Science. She has a strong interest in public policy analysis and policy making.
Acknowledgment: The author extends sincere gratitude to the IMPRI team for reviewing the article and for providing the opportunity to write the article.
Disclaimer: All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the organisation.
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