‘MSP Isn’t Distorting Prices’: CCI Head on Imports, Yields, and the Road to Cotton Stability

Ginners and spinners say they can’t survive at MSP-linked prices, even as farmers struggle with rising input costs. How does CCI strike a fair balance between protecting growers and keeping the textile value chain viable?
Lalit Kumar Gupta: The Cotton Corporation of India strikes a fair balance between protecting growers and keeping the textile value chain viable through a dual approach that addresses both farmer welfare and industry needs.

• For farmers, MSP operations ensure remunerative prices and prevent distress sales, while digital tools like the Kapas Kisan App, SMS alerts, and Aadhaar-linked payments enable fast and transparent procurement. With over 570 procurement centres nationwide, farmers have easy access to MSP, and payments are directly transferred to their Aadhaar-linked bank accounts with SMS notifications.
• For the industry, CCI conducts daily transparent e-auctions with priority windows for mills, enforces strict quality protocols with third-party testing, and provides consistent grading and traceability through the BITS system, enhancing confidence for domestic and export users. By modernising supply chains and ensuring fair returns for farmers alongside reliable access for mills, CCI sustains the entire cotton value chain.

Indian yields remain far below global levels, largely due to outdated seed technology. Shouldn’t CCI, as a key stakeholder, be pushing more actively for R&D partnerships and faster approval of improved varieties?
Lalit Kumar Gupta: The development and approval of improved cotton seed varieties are not under the purview of CCI, as this falls within the mandate of the Ministry of Agriculture and related R&D bodies. However, the Ministry of Textiles, in coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture, is actively pursuing initiatives to enhance cotton productivity. Notably, the project ‘Targeting Technologies to Agro-Ecological Zones – Large Scale Demonstrations of Best Practices to Enhance Cotton Productivity’ under the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) focuses on improving farmers’ incomes through the adoption of proven technologies. Additionally, the implementation of a dedicated Mission for cotton productivity is under active consideration.

There’s growing talk that much of India’s “organic cotton” is paper-based rather than field-verified. What is CCI doing to strengthen certification, traceability, and confidence in India’s organic claims?
Lalit Kumar Gupta: This matter is not under the purview of CCI. Organic certification and traceability is governed by the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) under the Department of Commerce, with APEDA as the Secretariat. APEDA ensures a credible and transparent certification ecosystem. In cases where non-compliance or wilful violations are detected, APEDA conducts structured investigations and imposes penalties per NPOP regulations.

CCI’s contribution lies in broader traceability systems such as BITS, which strengthen overall cotton credibility, but certified organic validation remains a function of NPOP and accredited certification bodies.

Can we expect CCI to publish real-time data on procurement, stock positions, and sales — to make the system more transparent and predictable for farmers and the trade alike?
Lalit Kumar Gupta: CCI already operates a fully digital, real-time, and transparent ecosystem for procurement and disposal, ensuring predictability for both farmers and industry. 
For farmers, this includes the Kapas Kisan App for self-registration and real-time slot booking, Aadhaar-linked direct payments, SMS alerts for registration, procurement, and payment, public grievance redressal through district-wise local monitoring committees and WhatsApp desks, and digital awareness campaigns.

For industry stakeholders, CCI provides real-time stock visibility on its e-auction portal, end-to-end billing and contracting via CotBiz, QR-coded bale traceability through BITS, and CCTV and ERP integration at all Ginning & Pressing units. These measures have established one of the most transparent procurement-to-sale systems in the cotton sector.

Critics argue that CCI behaves more like a commercial trader than a policy instrument. Going forward, how do you see its role evolving — as a stabiliser, a reform driver, or a strategic reserve agency for the cotton economy?
Lalit Kumar Gupta: CCI is primarily a cotton trading organisation and a central nodal agency for undertaking MSP operations of cotton under the Ministry of Textiles, as a sovereign function to protect cotton farmers from distress sales when market prices of kapas fall below the MSP rates.

With a pan-India presence over 570 procurement centres across 11 major cotton-growing states, CCI directly procures raw cotton from farmers at APMC yards while closely monitoring market conditions throughout the season. Digital initiatives, such as the Kapas Kisan mobile app, enable Aadhaar- and land record-based self-registration and slot booking, ensuring efficient and transparent procurement. All cotton and cotton seed stocks are sold via an independent e-auction portal, making the sales system market-driven and transparent. By modernising operations through digital platforms, data analytics, automation, and initiatives like the Bale Identification and Traceability System (BITS), CCI ensures quality, traceability, and origin verification of cotton bales.

Over its five-decade journey, CCI has evolved beyond a mere buyer-seller role to become a stabiliser of farmer incomes, a reform driver through digitalisation and process modernisation, and a strategic enabler of India’s cotton economy, promoting efficiency, transparency, and sustainable development across the entire cotton and textile value chain.