The Central government has received a request from the textile industry from South India to have a transparent and fair cotton trading policy, which would ensure a win-win strategy for both, the farming and cotton textile manufacturing communities.
M Senthilkumar, Chairman of Southern India Mills' Association (SIMA), in a release proposed the restructuring of Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) board by inducting major stakeholders, particularly, industry representatives, which consumes over 80 per cent of the cotton produced in the country. The ailing textile industry would be aggravated by any short-sighted policy, which would result in serious financial stress, he said.
During the 2014/15 season, Senthilkumar mentioned, CCI procured the entire volume of good quality cotton grown in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and parts of Maharashtra and did not release it for more than two months making the actual users to suffer seriously. Besides, he stated that CCI has always been quoting a much higher benchmark price than the actual market price, thus resulting in speculation.
The kapas price and the kapas procurement by the regular ginners is affected as the CCI plays a major role in seed sales and often sells the seeds at lower price, he added. Thus, to ensure a level playing field and to enable the textile industry to source the raw material always at international price and remain competitive in the open market Senthilkumar has urged the Union Textile Minister to take certain remedial measures.
www.simamills.com
cotcorp.gov.in
