Duty-Free Cotton Import Extended Till December 31

28-Aug-2025 11:41 AM

New Delhi. With the aim of increasing the supply and availability of cotton for the Indian textile industry, the Central Government has extended the time limit for its duty-free import from abroad.

It is known that earlier the period of its import was fixed from 19 August to 30 September, but now it has been decided to extend it till the end of the current year i.e. 31 December 2025.

According to the Union Finance Ministry, a formal decision has been taken to extend the time period of duty-free import of cotton and a notification to this effect will be issued soon.

This will give the textile industry an opportunity to import cheap cotton from other supplier countries including Brazil and the cost of Indian textile products will be reduced.

As a result, exporters of textile products will be helped in keeping the price of their goods at a competitive level in the global export market.

It is noteworthy that before 19 August 2025, there was a customs duty of 11 percent on the import of cotton in India, which has now been withdrawn.

America has imposed a heavy customs duty of 50% on Indian textile products even though it is the biggest buyer of these.

Due to this high duty, the price of Indian textile products in America will become uncompetitive as compared to other exporting countries like China, Vietnam, Pakistan and Bangladesh etc. This challenge can be faced only when India's textile products become cheaper and for this it is necessary to reduce the cost.

The domestic production area of ​​cotton has fallen behind by about 3 lakh hectares as compared to last year while there is a possibility of damage to the crop due to heavy rains and floods in some areas.

This may lead to a decline in production and the domestic market price may increase. The textile industry will get some relief if cheap cotton is imported from abroad without any duty.