The Union Cabinet approved the Mission for Cotton Productivity on May 6, 2026 — a five-year scheme worth ₹5,659.22 crore (FY 2026–27 to 2030–31) to transform India’s cotton sector. The mission targets a dramatic improvement in yield, a premium brand for Indian cotton, and digital empowerment of ~32 lakh cotton farmers across 14 states.
Mission for Cotton Productivity — Key Parameters
Parameter
Detail
Budget
₹5,659.22 crore
Duration
FY 2026–27 to FY 2030–31 (5 years)
Coverage
140 districts across 14 major cotton-growing states
Current lint productivity
440 kg/hectare
Target lint productivity
755 kg/hectare by 2031
Current production
~340 lakh bales/year
Target production
498 lakh bales by 2031 (each bale = 170 kg)
Beneficiary farmers
~32 lakh via digital platform
Ginning factories
2,000 covered under the scheme
Implementing ministries
Agriculture + Textiles (jointly); with ICAR and CSIR
Premium brand
“Kasturi Cotton Bharat”
Trash content target
Below 2%
India’s Cotton Sector — Current Status
Indicator
Value
Cotton acreage
~11.4 million hectares (~21% of global cotton area)
Raw material for India’s $44 billion textiles sector; ~6 crore livelihoods
Key issue
India grows ~21% of world’s cotton on its land but produces only ~23% of global output — productivity gap vs China (~1,900 kg/ha) and Brazil (~1,700 kg/ha) is stark
Kasturi Cotton Bharat — Branding Initiative
The “Kasturi Cotton Bharat” brand is India’s premium cotton label — analogous to Egyptian Cotton or Supima (US) — designed to:
Certify Indian cotton’s traceability and quality (lint purity, fibre length, strength)
Reduce trash content to below 2% (international textile buyers require <2%)
Enable Indian cotton to command premium prices in global markets
Compete against branded natural fibres from the US, Egypt, and Australia
Key Interventions Under the Mission
Intervention
Detail
Improved seed distribution
High-Yielding Varieties (HYVs) and Bt cotton varieties with better fibre quality
Precision agriculture
Soil health, drip irrigation, nutrient management for cotton
Pest management
Pink bollworm (Pectinophora gossypiella) control — India’s #1 cotton pest
Mechanisation
Machine picking to reduce contamination and labour costs
Ginning modernisation
Upgrade 2,000 ginning/processing factories for quality standards
Digital platform
Direct farmer registration, benefit transfer, traceability system
Kasturi Cotton certification
Traceability-backed premium brand for export markets
Cotton and Textiles — UPSC Framework
Concept
Detail
India’s textile exports
~USD 44 billion (FY 2025) — 2nd largest earner after gems/jewellery
Cotton’s share
Natural fibre accounts for ~70% of India’s apparel; major export segment
PM MITRA
PM Mega Integrated Textile Regions and Apparel Parks — 7 parks for manufacturing
PLI for Textiles
Production Linked Incentive for MMF (man-made fibres) and technical textiles
TUFS
Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme — textile machinery modernisation
Pink bollworm crisis
Devastated Maharashtra and Gujarat cotton crops in 2021–23; triggered resistance to Bt varieties
UPSC Relevance
Paper
Angle
GS3 — Agriculture
Cotton productivity, HYVs, Bt cotton, pest management
GS3 — Economy
Textiles sector, value chain, export competitiveness
GS2 — Governance
Cabinet schemes, Ministry of Agriculture + Ministry of Textiles coordination
Mains Keywords: Mission for Cotton Productivity, Kasturi Cotton Bharat, lint yield, Bt cotton, pink bollworm, textile exports, PM MITRA, ICAR, ginning factories, cotton value chain, digital farmer platform
This content was researched and written in collaboration with Claude AI (Anthropic). Key facts are verified against web sources before publishing — but errors can occasionally slip through. If you spot something incorrect, our team wants to fix it immediately.
