Centre Approves Expenditure of Rs 1,061 Crore to Compensate Losses on Cotton Sale

The Government has approved an extra expenditure of Rs 748.08 crore for the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) and Maharashtra State Co-operative Cotton Growers Marketing Federation Ltd. (MSCCGMFL) for reimbursement of losses on the sale of cotton procured under Minimum Support Price (MSP) operations during cotton years i.e. 2014 to 2015 and 2015 to 2016.

The government also approved an expenditure of Rs 312.93 crore for reimbursing losses to the Cotton Corporation of India and the MSCCGMFL on sale of cotton procured under MSP operations during the cotton years – 2017 to 2018 and 2018 to 2019. It must be noted that the cotton year starts from October to September.

The decisions regarding this were taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs or CCEA that also accorded ex-post facto sanction for engaging Maharashtra State Co-operative Cotton Growers Marketing Federation Ltd to take on MSP operations in Maharashtra state as the sub-agent of Cotton Corporation of India Limited during the cotton years 2017-18 & 2018-19.

An official statement said that "The approval would help in price support operations of cotton that helps in stabilizing prices of cotton and is mainly aimed at protecting the interests of the farmers & controlling any distress sale”