15 Dec 2025
The Centre has decided to extend the proposed Cotton Productivity Mission to a 10-year tenure, after the Prime Minister’s Office indicated that the originally envisaged five-year timeframe would be insufficient to achieve meaningful gains in productivity and sustainability, sources said. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), which is piloting the mission, is currently awaiting inputs from the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare to finalise the framework. The mission was announced in the Union Budget for 2025–26.
The extended timeline could also lead to a revision in the mission’s overall financial outlay. The initial proposal had pegged expenditure at around ₹5,000 crore, including nearly ₹4,000 crore to be spent by the agriculture department. With the tenure now likely to double, the funding requirement may be scaled up accordingly.
Inter-ministerial differences
Even as the mission’s rollout has been delayed, the Ministry of Textiles is understood to be pressing for part of the proposed funding to be used for modernising cotton ginning factories. This proposal, however, has already been rejected by both the Department of Expenditure (DoE) and NITI Aayog, sources said.
In her Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced a five-year “Mission for Cotton Productivity” aimed at improving farm-level productivity and sustainability, promoting extra-long staple cotton, and providing farmers access to advanced science and technology. She said the initiative aligned with the government’s integrated “5F” vision for the textile sector—farm, fibre, factory, fashion and foreign trade—and would help raise farmer incomes while ensuring a steady supply of quality cotton to revive the domestic textile industry.
Scope and structure under review
The DoE has raised objections to several components proposed by the Ministry of Textiles. In a note to ICAR, it said that Mini Mission-II and Mini Mission-III, proposed to be implemented by the textiles ministry, were not covered under the Budget announcement and therefore should be dropped from the overall mission framework.
The DoE has also flagged an overlap between the proposed cotton mission and the newly announced Mission on High Yielding Seeds, particularly in the area of seed research and development. It has advised that this component be excluded from the Cotton Productivity Mission to avoid duplication.
Additionally, the expenditure department has asked the agriculture ministry to rationalise spending under the National Food Security and Nutrition Mission by removing cotton-related activities, arguing that these would be addressed under the new cotton mission.
Textiles ministry defends role
The Ministry of Textiles has sought to justify its involvement, noting that it had earlier been designated as an implementing agency alongside ICAR and had conducted stakeholder webinars in that capacity. It has argued that cotton lint quality is influenced by post-harvest processes such as contamination control, scientific handling, ginning, pressing, bale preparation and certification—areas that require active industry participation.
Production outlook
India’s cotton production fell to 29.72 million bales (of 170 kg each) in 2024–25 from 32.52 million bales in the previous year. Official estimates for 2025–26 are yet to be released, though the Cotton Association of India has projected output at around 30.5 million bales, compared with 31.2 million bales in 2024–25.
With the mission’s tenure now extended to a decade, policymakers expect it to provide a more durable framework to address structural challenges in cotton productivity, quality and sustainability, even as discussions continue over its final scope, funding and institutional responsibilities.