India’s Textile Minister Piyush Goyal has advised spinners to not buy cotton from ginners without a traceability certificate. He informed in a meeting of Textile Advisory Group (TAG) that the Government of India is keen on implementing the traceability of cotton this year itself.
The Minister said that the government is committed to strengthening testing facility needed to conform to Kasturi standards, DNA testing and traceability. Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) should ensure testing facility in every state. Goyal asked Indian labs to also give organic cotton certificate to reduce present cost of certification. Mobile soil testing labs were also recommended.
Minister Goyal clarified that there will be no extension in exemption of Basic Custom Duty (BCD) on cotton imports. He emphasised on speedy approval of new seed varieties. He requested the Ministry of agriculture to facilitate the same. He asked for a note on the approval needed from the Ministries of agriculture and environment. He noted that the issue related to cotton futures will be sorted out as Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) and Cotton Association of India (CAI) are working with MCX for revision of specification of cotton contract. The Minister asked to expedite implementation of notification on coloured HDPE bags issued in August 2022.
Suresh Kotak, Chairman of TAG suggested formation of Self-Help Group of the farmers to replicate the farming practices undertaken by the Gujarat’s farmers who have attained higher productivity. On the issue of cotton production data from ginners, it was informed that a lot of progress has been made and penalty mechanism had also been initiated. Industry was requested to submit transaction data to strengthen the data collection process. It was also proposed to collect and analyse data of GST return.
