Raw cotton exports from India plummeted by over 50 per cent in the 2014-15 cotton season (October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015). In 2014-15, India exported 57.72 lakh bales of raw cotton against 116.96 lakh bales during the cotton year 2013-14, says Textiles Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar. “The decline in exports was due to substantial reduction in import by China,†Gangwar said in his reply to a question at the Rajya Sabha.
However, cotton shipments in 2015-16 are likely to increase by about 18 per cent in 2015-16 compared to the previous year, Gangwar said citing estimates of the Cotton Advisory Board (CAB).