India has allowed duty-free imports of cotton until September 30, 2022.
It is reported that the prices of cotton has increased due to a drop in the production.
Piyush Goyal, the Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs & Food & Public Distribution and Textiles, tweeted that this step will “bring down prices benefiting consumers.”
India, the world’s biggest producer of the fibre, has also removed the Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) on the imports.
India’s key competitors in this area, Vietnam and Bangladesh, already allow to buy cotton from various countries at zero duty.
The total import taxes on cotton was 11% and now Indian mills could easily import cotton from Australia, Unite States and African countries.
Australia is one of the world’s largest cotton exporters.
Between 2017 and 2020 Australia exported an average of $1.65 billion of cotton each year.
In 2021, Australian cotton exports diversified, with exports increasing to India.
Earlier, India’s textile industry had welcomed the signing of the Indo-Australia trade agreement.
They believe that Indian mills and textile industry would gain high quality cotton produced by Australia and export of high value-added textiles and clothing products to Australia.