Expressing serious concern over India's growing dependence on cotton imports, eminent agricultural scientist, Padma Bhushan Dr RS Paroda, called for urgent technological and policy reforms to restore the country's global competitiveness in cotton production. He described the current situation as a major setback for Indian cotton farmers and the textile industry, noting that while cotton-producing countries across the world have rapidly adopted new agricultural technologies and innovations, Indian cotton farmers have been deprived of access to the same GM technology for more than two decades.
Dr Paroda stressed that this prolonged technological stagnation has adversely affected productivity, competitiveness, and farmers' incomes, underscoring the need for a transparent, science-based regulatory framework.
Reacting to the latest estimates released by the Cotton Association of India (CAI), Dr Paroda, Founder Chairman of the Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences (TAAS) and former President of both the Indian Science Congress and the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, urged the Government to undertake a critical review of the sector and adopt a long-term strategy centred on advanced biotechnology, science-based regulation, and innovation-led growth.
According to the latest CAI estimates, cotton imports during the 2025–26 season are projected to reach 60 lakh bales, while exports are expected to decline sharply to 15 lakh bales. At the same time, domestic consumption has been revised upwards to 348 lakh bales, highlighting a widening gap between production and demand and signalling India's increasing dependence on imported cotton. This trend raises serious concerns about the long-term sustainability and competitiveness of the domestic cotton sector.
"These estimates are a wake-up call," Dr Paroda said. "India's cotton sector has been steadily losing its global leadership over the past few years. Rising import dependence in a crop where India was the world's largest producer until 2014 and the second-largest exporter underscores the urgent need to embrace next-generation GM technologies through science-based regulatory reforms and establish a long-term policy framework that can revive both our productivity and global standing. This is especially critical at a time when our Hon'ble Prime Minister has called for self-reliance across strategic sectors. Increasing dependence on cotton imports exposes the country to unnecessary geopolitical and market risks."
Dr Paroda observed that the challenges facing the cotton sector are structural rather than cyclical, arising from the absence of an enabling policy environment that fosters innovation—the very factor that drove cotton's remarkable success over the past 25 years. Noting that India's cotton sector supports nearly seven million farmers and provides raw material to one of the country's largest employment-generating industries, Dr Paroda cautioned:
"We must reduce our import dependence and become Atmanirbhar once again. We have the scientific capability and technical competence to achieve this. Unfortunately, the Cotton Mission announced recently is silent on scaling up GM cotton, a proven technology that can significantly benefit both farmers and Indian agriculture."
Dr Paroda emphasised that India's regulatory framework must keep pace with global best practices to facilitate the timely adoption of scientific innovations that drive agricultural growth. He further stated that countries that have attained global leadership have consistently embraced innovation while adopting robust, forward-looking regulatory and intellectual property frameworks.
"India needs a critical relook to ensure a transparent, predictable, and science-based regulatory system that enables farmers to benefit from scientifically proven and safe technological advances, just as we did when Bt cotton was introduced under the leadership of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who at the time also held the Agriculture portfolio," Dr Paroda said.