The Indian government has decided to remove customs duty on raw cotton imports for 40 days, from August 19 to September 30. This step has been taken to reduce the price of cotton and help textile mills that are struggling with high input costs.
Earlier, cotton imports carried a 5% basic customs duty and a 5% agriculture infrastructure and development cess, together making it an 11% duty. With this temporary waiver, importing cotton will become cheaper, making raw material more easily available in the domestic market.
The government hopes this move will not only support Indian textile mills but also improve the global competitiveness of Indian textile exports by lowering production costs.
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As per data from GTRI, India’s cotton imports have already gone up sharply. In the last financial year, imports rose by 107% to $1.2 billion, compared to $579 million in the previous year.
