Special Report     

Published: Feb 15, 2023
Updated: Feb 15, 2023

The Cotton Corporation of India

Lifeline of cotton farmers

Awareness of sustainability and circularity issues, increase in yield and the need for change in the cotton industry, is currently the main focus of the Government of India. A number of initiatives are in being taken in addressing the most pressing social and environmental challenges of cotton farmers, among them demonstration of best farm practices for doubling farmers’ income along with developing transparency standards in procurement and sale of cotton.

Cotton Corporation of India, as an arm of the Government of India, saves cotton farmers from any distress sales due to depressed market conditions by buying their produce at the MSP and ensures availability of good quality cotton to domestic textile mills, including MSME mills, at competitive prices through daily e-auctions. CMD Lalit Kumar Gupta points out that the Corporation has embraced the latest technologies with gusto, and automated operations at all its procurement centres, guarantee a fair deal and ease of doing business to producers.

Cotton Corporation of India, a ‘miniratna’ company under the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India has played a stellar role as a via media between cotton farmers and the domestic textile industry. As a central nodal agency, CCI undertakes MSP operations in the event prices of seed cotton fall below the MSP level.

“CCI officials remain present at procurement centres right from the beginning of the cotton season till the end to ensure minimum support prices to cotton farmers”, says Mr Gupta, who is a visionary leader and an expert with a remarkable knowledge of cotton, crop patterns, quality aspects and domestic as well as global market trends.

DAILY AUCTIONS

Besides MSP operations, CCI also undertakes viable commercial purchase operations as and when required to meet the demand of its regular buyers. CCI offers good-quality cotton at competitive prices through daily e-auctions throughout the year at most competitive rates and terms to keep the wheels of domestic textile mills running.

SETTING EXAMPLE

Revealing the secrets of his success, Mr Gupta says, “While climbing the ladder at CCI, several seniors helped me in learning. I cannot forget them. Again, my basic philosophy of commitment to responsibility and religious devotion to integrity helped me a lot in climbing the ladder. I strongly believe in managing the activities by taking all staff members together as ‘one team one dream’. I strongly believe in religiously sticking to all principles of corporate governance. These policy stances have moulded my career and life.”

With a view to maintaining its crucial role of safeguarding the interests of cotton farmers across the country, while at the same time ensuring a smooth supply of good-quality cotton to textile mills, CCI has established a comprehensive infrastructure.

The Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra)-headquartered CCI has a pan-India presence, with 19 branches and more than 450 cotton procurement centres in all major cotton-growing states, including Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan in the northern zone, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha in the central zone, and Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in the southern zone.

EASE OF DOING BIZ

Says Mr. Gupta in an interview to Corporate India, “We at the Cotton Corporation of India have always been a pioneer for adopting new technologies, realising the need of time and challenges.”

Claiming that “CCI is a dynamic organisation”, Mr. Gupta adds, “We strongly believe in moving with the times. A rapidly changing world is throwing up new challenges and opening up new opportunities. At CCI, we are fully equipped to take up challenges as well as grab new opportunities and scale new goals in the coming years with speed and efficiency, leaving no space for doubts or delay. We have initiated the process of integrating information technology with business functions – always ensuring that the organisation remains abreast of the latest IT technologies with a view to moving ahead.”

In order to improve work culture, transparency, and accountability and also to enhance result orientation, CCI is promoting the use of information technology in its core activities and has considerably reduced manual intervention in pursuit of the concept of the paperless office.

Manual systems are minimized by CCI in the procurement of cotton. Equipment like digital moisture meters and micronnaire testers are available at all procurement centres of CCI to ensure that farmers get the right price for their produce, based on a scientific assessment of quality at the spot.

CLEAN BIDDING

Likewise, in order to have direct interaction and outreach with buyer mills and for making the sales system more transparent and market driven, 100% sales of lint cotton bales and cotton seed are made through an independent e-auction portal managed by a PSU. This system provides a secure bidding environment to participant mills. Textile mills and MSME units may get themselves registered with CCI to participate in this e-auction platform so as to bid for any quantity as per their requirement. Thus, CCI is an integral part of the textile industry and a ‘one stop shop’ for all kinds of good quality cotton to the textile industry at competitive rates and terms.

Maintains Mr Gupta with a sense of pride in his eyes, “With its pragmatic approach in procurement as well as trading of cotton, CCI has not left any stone unturned and is making remarkable efforts in complementing government initiatives for the upliftment of cotton farmers and the brand image of Indian cotton.”

Mr Gupta adds, “The Corporation has developed a mobile app, ‘Cott-Ally’, available exclusively for cotton farmers to give them authentic information so as to maximize farm income.”

This free mobile-based application keeps cotton farmers updated about variety-wise MSP rates of cotton, the nearest procurement centres of CCI, payment tracking, live chat, latest notifications, weather reports, complaint lodging facility, etc. in their regional languages so that cotton farmers need not depend on commission agents for such information.

COTTON VALUE CHAIN

Mr Gupta emphasizes that the Ministry of Textiles is taking various measures on sustainability of the entire cotton textile value chain in India in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, CCI, the textile Industry/industry associations and other experts under the able guidance of the Union Minister of Textiles.

In this direction, in order to look after the aspect of holistic planning for sustainability in the cotton, the Government is working in improvement in production and productivity of cotton, addressing the issues of contamination from the farm level and ginning to fashion garment manufacturing, sustainability, traceability and branding of Indian cotton.

Mr Gupta adds, “Being an initiator, a pilot project starting from March 2023 till March 2024 is taken up by CCI in association with ICAR-CICR for creating awareness and extension services on ‘Best Farm Practices’ to Improve yield, quality and sustainability. This will pave the way for potential strategies for enhancing sustainability and branding of Indian cotton.”

QR CODE

As part of the government’s initiative, CCI is also in the process of implementing a QR code using Block Chain technology from processing of cotton and warehousing till its sale to buyers. This will create a benchmark for the textile industry and will be a milestone in the development of the brand image of Indian cotton.

Mr Gupta highlights that in order to attain the objective of making India ‘Atmanirbhar’ in cotton, the Ministry of Textiles announced a ‘Kasturi Cotton India’ brand of cotton on the eve of World Cotton Day on October 7, 2020. Further, to make Indian cotton a reliable quality product, both in the domestic and global markets, thereby facilitating premium pricing, an MoU has been signed by the CCI on behalf of Government of India and TEXPROCIL, which is an implementing agency to ensure complete traceability, certification and branding of ‘Kasturi cotton India’.

Thus, in its long journey of more than five decades, CCI has truly proved to be a friend to cotton farmer on the one hand and a dependable supplier of good-quality cotton to the textile industry in the country on the other hand.