Premium Indian cotton gets `Kasturi’ brand and logo

Union minister of textiles and women and child development Smriti Zubin Irani launched the first ever brand and logo for Indian cotton on the second World Cotton Day on 7 October 2020 through video conferencing. 

Today, Indian cotton has been endowed with a brand and logo, a much awaited moment, the minister said, adding that the event becomes more important as this comes on a day when the second World Cotton Day is being celebrated.

“Cotton is one of the principal commercial crops of India and it provides livelihood to about 6 million farmers. India is the second largest cotton producer and the largest consumer of cotton in the world. India produces about 6 million tonnes of cotton every year, which is about 23 per cent of the world cotton. India also accounts for about 51 per cent of the total organic cotton production in the world, which demonstrates India’s effort towards sustainability,” she pointed out.

Irani said that to ensure sustainability, integrity and end-to-end traceability of organic products, a certification system based on comparable international standards verified through internationally acceptable institutional system is required to be put in place. Accordingly, the ministry of textiles through APEDA under the ministry of commerce and industry has prescribed a certification system for organic cotton, which will be introduced in phases in the entire textile value chain. Similarly, prescribing a certification system for non-organic cotton has also been taken up with APEDA so that usages of cotton can be suitably augmented. 

The minister said the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has made highest ever Minimum Support Price (MSP) operation of cotton and that procurement under MSP will be increased during the new cotton season. CCI has opened 430 procurement centres in all cotton growing states and payments are being made digitally to farmers’ account within 72 hours. Further, leveraging the technology,  a mobile app, `Cott-Ally’ has been developed by CCI for providing latest news regarding weather condition, crop situation and best farm practices. Discount of Rs300 per candy is being offered by CCI in its regular sale to MSME mills, Khadi and Village industry and cooperative sector mills to enhance their competitiveness and efficiency. It was also stated that cotton may be used across all dimension of technical textiles. 

The minister also attended the inaugural session of the webinar organised by Texprocil and Citi on the theme of `New-Look Cotton’ to facilitate exchange of ideas on the emerging scenarios in cotton usage and application.