'CCI asked to purchase short-staple cotton'

Nagpur, May 5: Union Minister for Textiles Shankarsinh Vaghela today said the government was looking into the possibility of Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) purchasing short-staple cotton at the minimum support price (MSP).

Speaking at the inauguration of the second phase of the polyester manufacturing plant of Indo Rama Synthetics (India) Limited (IRSL) at Butibori, about 30 km from here, Mr Vaghela said CCI purchased only long-staple cotton at present. If CCI started purchasing even short-staple cotton, then it would go a long way in alleviating the sufferings of farmers in the country, especially in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, he said.

Cultivators in Vidarbha did not get good price for their produce since the cotton was of short staple, he pointed out.

Mr Vaghela said cultivators in the country could get a better deal if they explored the untapped markets in Japan and Russia. These two could be huge markets for the produce, he said, adding that China had bought a huge quantity of Indian cotton in the recent past.

The government was in the process of setting up 30 integrated textile parks in the country and had proposed to open 50 more, for which the approval of the Planning Commission was awaited, Mr Vaghela said.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said the expansion by IRSL at its Butibori plant would give a fillip to the state government's efforts to boost development in the region. It would also help attract more investment in Vidarbha, thereby creating more direct and indirect employment opportunities, he said. IRSL Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) O P Lohia said the capacity at the company's Butibori plant had doubled from 3.0 lakh tonnes per annum (tpa) to 6.0 lakh tpa (from 800 tonnes per day to 1,600 tonnes per day) after the expansion. The expansion was completed at a cost of Rs 900 crore over the last 2 years and 6 months, he said.

The company founded the plant in 1992 at a cost of Rs 350 crore, and had invested a total of Rs 5,000 crore in it till date, he added.

IRSL claims that with the expansion in Butibori, it has become the largest dedicated polyester manufacturer in the country and the factory itself has become one of the largest single-location plants in the world.

The Butibori plant is an integrated manufacturing complex, producing Polyester Staple Fibre (PSF), Partially Oriented Yarn (POY), Fully Drawn Yarn (FDY) and Draw Textured Yarn (DTY) besides fibre grade chips.

UNI