 "Farmers harvest cotton in a field")
Lack of global branding of the medium staple high quality Shanker-6 could lead to sluggish export demand going forward, amidst rising popularity of the Sudanese cotton from Africa and Peru Pima cotton which are being heavily branded by the respective countries.
On the production front, India pipped China in 2015-16 to emerge as the world's largest cotton producer at 5.7 million metric tonnes as against the latter's 4.7 MMT.
However, in absence of any branding efforts of its prominent Sanker-6 variety, international clients are increasingly turning towards Africa, Peru and US, who have in recent times engaged in branding activities. For instance, Africa has been running international campaigns and branded its cotton as CMIA which stands for Cotton Made in Africa.
According to P R Roy of Diagonal Consulting, a leading textile consulting firm, while Africa has in recent times consciously branded its cotton, especially from Sudan, South American nation Peru, too has been conducting promotional activities globally and portraying its 'Pima' cotton as a worldwide brand.
"For branding, India has to do cotton projection properly and honest approach has to be made by the industry. This will help the country grow the business and assure the leadership in the global markets," said Roy, who was recently awarded a gold medal by the Society of Dyes and Colourists, UK.
Explaining the reason for lack of branding by India, Rakesh Rathi, president of Indian Cotton Association Limited (ICAL) said, "We are more concerned about price and volume and that's why India has not done branding for its best quality cotton. Neither government nor traders are serious about branding; we are selling our cotton because it is cheapest. Moreover, there are no any standards set by the government which could help in brand promotion. For this we have to have certain norms which are not there at present."
Rathi also believes that branding should be done within the country also to get the best product.
The other reason for lack of branding is the relatively higher share of domestic consumption of cotton in India. Out of total production of cotton, India exports around 15-20 per cent while US exports over 70 per cent out of its total production.
In addition, high adulterations in Sankar-6 has also hurt the Indian cotton image worldwide. "India needs to understand and adopt best practices of harvesting, ginning and handling of cotton. We previously suffered a lot due to adulteration and we may lose more if we will not change the things. We can get better prices of our cotton," said Shirish Shah of Bhaidas Karsandas Company from Mumbai and member of Cotton Association of India.
Indian seeds companies are actively engaged seeds developments and even government also became active to develop Indian variety of hybrid cotton seed. According to M G Shambekar, managing director of Ankur Seeds, the government is now aggressively promoting research of seeds development and Indian companies are capable to produce Indian variety.
According to seeds industry, alternate technology is necessary to break monopolistic practices in the industry. This will also be beneficial for farmers as they will have options to chose from.
"National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) has developed a desi cotton seed and now we are waiting for approval from Government. Multiple availability will reduce the price and will benefit farmers too," M Prabhakar Rao, chairman of NSL Group, said.
Swarna Bharat Biotechnique Private Limited (SBBPL), a joint venture company of seven leading seeds companies of India has joined hand with NBRI an arm of the Central Cotton Research Institute (CICR). Development part of Indian BT technology is over and new seed is expected to be launched by Kharif 2018.
