Govt committee approves reimbursement of losses to CCI

CCI would be conducting domestic and export sales. The apportionment of these sales would be decided by an inter ministerial committee consisting of representatives of the Ministries of Agriculture, Commerce, Textiles and the Department of Revenue, to strike an appropriate balance between interests of domestic users and producers.

The Government of India, under the Price Support System (PSS) for the cotton season 2012-13 fixed the MSP for Long Staple (LS) and Medium Staple (MS) varieties of raw cotton at Rs.3,900/- per quintal and Rs.3,600/- per quintal respectively. This led to a hike in MSP price of 29 percent and 18 percent respectively over the previous year.

Cotton prices in Andhra Pradesh touched MSP prices in October 2012 and procurement under MSP operations commenced in the districts of Warangal, Guntur and Adilabad. The CCI procured 22.65 lakh bales of seed kapas under price stabilization operations from October 2012 to February 2013 at a total cost of Rs.5,807.95 crore.

The CCI has successfully stabilized prices in Andhra Pradesh and avoided farmer distress with timely payments. Cotton prices then crossed MSP prices in March 2013 in Andhra Pradesh.

Ministry of Textiles