Kasturi Cotton India

Introduction

Cotton is one of the most important commercial crops cultivated in India and accounts for around 25% of the total global cotton production. It plays a major role in sustaining the livelihood of an estimated 6 million cotton farmers and 40-50 million people engaged in related activities such as cotton processing & trade. The Indian Textile Industry consumes a diverse range of fibres and yarns and the ratio of use of cotton to non-cotton fibres in India is around 60:40  whereas it is 30:70 in the rest of the world.

Apart from being the provider of a basic necessity of life i.e. clothing which is next only to food, cotton is also one of the largest contributor to India’s net foreign exchange by way of exports in the form of raw cotton, intermediate products such as yarn and fabricsto ultimate finished products in the form of garments, made ups and knitwear. Due to its economic importance in India, it is also termed as “White-Gold”.

Brand Kasturi cotton

In order to attain the objective of building image of Indian cotton at Global level, making India Aatmanirbhar and vocal for local in the field of cotton, Ministry of Textiles had announced the “Kasturi Cotton India” Brand of cotton on the eve of World Cotton Day on 7th October 2020 by which Indian cotton was endowed with a brand and a logo that represents Whiteness, Softness, Purity, Lusture and Indianness.

Traceability of Kasturi Cotton

To encourage Trade and Industry to work on the principle of self-regulation by owning complete responsibility, The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL) the apex body to promote exports of Indian Cotton textile products including raw cotton across the world, has been designated as the implementing agency for Traceability, Certification and Branding of "KASTURI Cotton India".  

In this regard, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) and TEXPROCIL.  Government will contribute equal share of Rs 15 crore over a period of three cotton season starting from 2022-23 to 2024-25 to provide complete traceability of Cotton from the origin to farm level, QR Code based Certification technology to validate "KASTURI Cotton India” as a premium brand by enhancing international perception and valuation of Indian Cotton.  Quality Control Order (Cotton Bales) under Bureau of Indian standards (BIS) Act 2016 is being finalized.

Source : Ministry of Textiles