Uniform GST Rates Likely to Bring Relief to Cotton Industry

06-Sep-2025 01:00 PM

New Delhi. On one hand, the Central Government has extended the deadline for duty-free import of cotton from foreign countries till 31 December 2025, while on the other hand, it has also revised the GST rate for the textile industry. This is expected to provide relief to the textile industry.

There is a possibility of India's textile products becoming uncompetitive in the price there due to the imposition of a hefty import duty of 50 percent on many Indian products by the US.

The Central Government is making special efforts to overcome this problem. America is the major market for Indian textile products.

The amendment made in the GST rate for the textile sector will help in reducing the cost of products, maintaining exports and eliminating the employment crisis. Although the duty-free import of large quantities of cotton from abroad will make it difficult for Indian cotton producers to get profitable returns,

the Ministry of Textiles has made it clear that its subordinate agency - Cotton Corporation of India will procure a lot of cotton from farmers in major producing states at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) in the marketing season of 2025-26 (October-September) as in 2024-25.

The minimum support price of cotton has been increased by Rs 589 per quintal this time to Rs 7710 per quintal for the medium staple category and Rs 8110 per quintal for long staple varieties.

In the marketing season of 2024-25, Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) had made a huge purchase of about 100 lakh bales (each bale of 170 kg) of cotton from farmers in Telangana, Maharashtra,

Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh and other states. The government says that India's textile and apparel market will expand to $350 billion by the year 2030 and serious efforts will be made to increase the domestic consumption and export of the products of this sector as it is a very huge industry and contributes very significantly to the development of the national economy.