Indian govt drafts new bill for accurate cotton data

The Government of India has drafted a Cotton Trade (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2012, with an aim to have in place a system to collect accurate data on cotton production and stock availability in the country.

In January this year, the Cotton Advisory Board (CAB) had estimated India’s cotton production for this season at 34.5 million bales, but it had to later adjust to the Agriculture Ministry estimates of 34 million bales.

At present, there is no statutory framework in India for collecting data on cotton stocks with ginning and pressing units. This lack of accurate data makes it difficult for the CAB to assess production and consumption of raw cotton in the country.

“The draft of Cotton Trade (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2012 is circulated only to CAB members. The bill has not been finalized yet and is still at the draft stage,”a senior official from the Maharashtra state government told fibre2fashion.

“Currently, views are being sought from various stakeholders for any addition, modification, deletion and correction in the bill. Once the bill is finalized, then it will be available to the general public,”he mentions.

“The draft bill includes filing of information by ginning and pressing units and traders. At present, there is no regulation for the registration of the ginning and pressing units. According to the draft bill, the cotton production figures will have to be submitted to the Office of the Textile Commissioner, once the bill is passed,”he informs.

“The collection of monthly figures would give a fair estimate about the number of pressed bales in the country, which is the basic objective of the bill,”the official explains.