Ministry sets face against Cotton Corp divestment

NEW DELHI: The Textile Ministry has said that it is opposed to the disinvestment commission’s proposal to privatise the Cotton Corporation of India , the official cotton procurement agency.
The commission’s proposal is impractical and insensible. “It is hard to believe that a private agency can perform CCI’s mandate credibly which is ensure that cotton prices don’t fall below the MSP level,� textile secretary S B Mohapatra said.
“CCI has a paid-up capital of Rs 25 crore. It has no major assets that can attract a buyer.� In the absence of the MSP regime, it is more rational to wind up CCI than to privatise it, he said. During the last cotton season too, CCI undertook MSP operations by buying cotton at higher prices directly from the farmers. CCI makes its own estimates of the cotton production and consumption. CCI’s estimates usually have more credibility than the those of the cotton textile mills and the cotton trade represented by the East India Cotton Association.