The government on Saturday announced a temporary exemption on all customs duties on the import of cotton from June 1 till October 30, to augment its availability for the Indian textile sector amid geopolitical tensions.

The temporary duty exemption is expected to reduce input costs across the textile and apparel sector, thereby providing targeted relief to manufacturers and consumers, while also keeping the interests of domestic farmers in mind, according to an official notification.

The measure is anticipated to have a positive impact on the performance of the domestic textile industry, especially the small and medium enterprises, ensuring better availability of cotton in the market.

Earlier this month, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved an outlay of Rs 5,659.22 crore for the Mission for Cotton Productivity (2026–27 to 2030–31) aimed at addressing bottlenecks, declining growth, and quality concerns in India's cotton sector.

The mission aligns with the government's 5F vision (Farm to Fibre to Factory to Fashion to Foreign). It focuses on enhancing cotton productivity through the development of high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds resistant to disease and pests, scaling up of existing and latest crop production technologies through state governments, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, and State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) through large-scale promotion and adoption of latest crop production technologies, ensuring a least-contaminant cotton supply to industry, and promoting high-quality cotton exports.

The major focus of the mission is on the development of high-yielding, climate-resilient, pest-resistant seeds and other production technologies, upscaling improved cotton production technologies like High Density Planting System (HDPS), Closer Spacing (CS), Integrated Cotton Management, and promotion of Extra Long Staple (ELS) Cotton.

It also works on augmenting the quality of cotton through capacity building and promoting modernisation of ginning and processing factories, including the adoption of best processing practices and strengthening cotton testing infrastructure across the country with modern, standardised, and accredited facilities to ensure reliable quality assessment and global benchmarking.

The mission envisages accomplishing the production of 498 lakh bales (170 kg lint each) of cotton by enhancing lint productivity from 440 kg/ha to 755 kg/ha by 2031. Approximately 32 lakh farmers will benefit, leading to self-reliance.