US organization urges Indian government to abolish import duty on cotton

19-Jun-2024 08:23 PM

New Jersey. US industry body - Cotton Council International (CCI) has appealed to the Government of India to abolish the 11 percent import duty on short staple cotton to cut costs for the Indian textile industry.

It is worth mentioning that in February 2024, the Government of India had decided to remove the import duty of 10 percent on cotton with fiber length more than 32 mm but retained the import duty on cotton with short and medium length fibers. Cotton with fiber length more than 32 mm is also called Extra Long Staple (ELS) cotton.

It is worth noting that on February 2, 2021, the government had imposed a duty of 11 percent on the import of cotton, which included a basic customs duty of 5 percent, tax of 5 percent and social welfare cess of 1 percent.

During a round table meeting organised by CCI, the President of Supima said that a major challenge is the 11% import duty imposed on US cotton which is negatively impacting the interests of the domestic textile industry.

ELS contributes less than 1% to the total cotton production in India and thus helps textile mills to manufacture and trade in quality products from imported cotton.