The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) sees buoyant market prices precluding the need need for a Minimum Support Price (MSP) operation during the current cotton season (October 2021 to September 2022).
The CCI procured 2.5 crore bales during the last two cotton seasons in MSP operation and had just about 70,000 bales of cotton with it now, Chairman and Managing Director Pradeep Kumar Agarwal said . The total outgo for the MSP operation in the two seasons was almost ₹70,000 crore. Cotton prices began looking up from February and had been high only for the last two months, he added.
‘No intervention needed’
“It looks like farmers will not require our intervention now as the market prices are higher than the MSP. In fact, farmers are expecting the prices to go up further,” Mr. Agarwal said. The CCI continues to sell the cotton stocks with it and may go for commercial purchase later if its stocks deplete, he added.
Textiles Secretary Upendra Prasad Singh also told mediapersons on Wednesday, “We do not see a need for procurement (cotton MSP operation) this year.”
On the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs’ approval for committed price support of ₹17,408.85 crore to CCI for cotton seasons from 2014-2015 to 2020-2021, Mr. Singh said that about 50% funds would be released this year and the rest would get a budgetary allocation in the next fiscal.
