Atul Ganatra, President, Cotton Association of India, believes the imposition of 10 per cent duty on cotton imports will not impact its purchase. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced a 10 per cent import duty on cotton in her budget speech. Textile mills have already imported 600,000 bales of cotton in the 2020/21 marketing year starting from October 1. They are likely to source a further 800,000 bales from outside the country during the rest of the season.

India is also expected to produce 36 million bales in the current marketing year, against local demand of 33 million bales, though supply of extra long staple cotton is negligible. It imports long staple cotton mainly from Egypt and United States. It exports surplus cotton to Bangladesh, Vietnam and China.

The budget has already announced a 5-7.5 per cent reduction in basic customs duty on man-made fibres (MMF) such as caprolactam, nylon chips and nylon fibre and yarn. This would make the MMF industry more competitive globally, added Juneja.