State officials in Punjab said that cotton sowing is nearly over, after it started from around mid-April. Whereas, in major growing States like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, planting starts in May and in the southern States from July. | Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL

Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has suggested a middle path amid demand from the Ministry of Textiles and industry to allow cotton import at zero duty till December 2026 which was opposed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare saying it would send a wrong signal to farmers as sowing of cotton has already begun.

Options under a middle path could be either zero duty import in September-October as current stock in the country is comfortable to meet domestic demand at least till August. Other option could be to reduce import duty to 6-7 per cent from the current 11 per cent, official sources said.

Chouhan, last week, held a meeting with representatives of Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) and officials from textile, agriculture, commerce and finance to examine the demand of garment exporters.

Sources said that the minister was informed that an estimated 47 lakh bales of cotton, as of now, were available with public sector Cotton Corporation of India, and that together with stock held by the private sector, including processors and traders, the domestic demand of the industry till August can be easily met.

Local prices

Since cotton is already being imported, the only issue is its domestic price which the textile industry says is quite high now. Sources said that as new harvest of cotton will start arriving from October, sufficient stock should be available in the country for September-October period which the government has to decide, based on both short-term and long-term outlook.

State officials in Punjab said that cotton sowing is nearly over, after it started from around mid-April. Whereas, in major growing States like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, planting starts in May and in the southern States from July.

Cotton acreage dips

In 2025-26, India’s cotton production dipped to 290.91 lakh bales (of 170 kg each bale) from 297.24 lakh bales in 2024-25 despite acreage remaining stagnant at 114.8 lakh hectares in the last two years, after dropping from a high of 129.27 lakh hectares in 2022-23. More assured return from maize and paddy as well as crop risk from pink bollworm (PBW) pest are driving cotton farmers to reduce area. In past six years, cotton area has shrunk the maximum – by 20 lakh hectares – among all other crops, data show.

According to Cotton Association of India (CAI) estimates, in 2025-26 season (October-September) the country’s production may be 324 lakh bales, consumption 315 lakh bales, import 47 lakh bales and export 15 lakh bales. The trade body also has pegged the closing stock on March 31 at nearly 292 lakh bales.

As reported by businessline earlier, the Textile Ministry had pitched for a temporary removal or reduction in import duties on raw cotton to reduce input costs for apparel exporters amid the West Asia crisis. Rising yarn and fabric prices have spiked production costs, eroding the industry’s export competitiveness despite strong global demand, the AEPC had said.

While India is one of the world’s largest producers of cotton, it also imports from other countries to meet the demand during the lean summer months and also source some superior varieties not available locally. The textiles and garment exports fell 2.2 per cent to $35.8 billion in 2025-26 due to contraction in shipments of key segments such as cotton, per an analysis of the latest trade data by research body GTRI.

Published on May 3, 2026