The Union Cabinet has approved ₹5,660 crore (~USD 600 million) for the Mission for Cotton Productivity (2026–27 to 2030–31), India's most significant intervention in the cotton sector in decades. The Mission targets a 71% increase in production to 498 lakh bales and a near-doubling of lint yields by 2030–31, directly addressing the raw material security crisis.

OVERVIEW 
On 5 May 2026, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved ₹5,660 crore (~USD 600 million) for the Mission for Cotton Productivity (2026–27 to 2030–31). Announced initially in Union Budget 2025–26, the Mission now has formal Cabinet sanction.

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It is jointly implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and the Ministry of Textiles aligning with the government's 5F vision: Farm → Fibre → Factory → Fashion → Foreign. India is the world's second-largest cotton producer, yet the sector has contracted sharply: output fell from 32.52 lakh bales in 2023–24 to 29.7 lakh bales in 2025–26, area under cultivation has shrunk by 2 million hectares over four years, and yields remain well below the global average of 833 kg per hectare. Simultaneously, domestic textile demand is forecast to reach 450 lakh bales by 2030–31, a gap the industry has been bridging through imports, particularly of Extra Long Staple (ELS) varieties. Implementation involves 10 ICAR institutes, 1 CSIR institute, and 10 All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) centres on cotton across major cotton-growing states. The initial phase covers 140 districts across 14 states and 2,000 ginning and processing factories.
CREDITS: Prepared by Wazir Analytics and Intelligence (AI) Team | May 2026. The content has not been edited and reviewed by us.

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