Union Textile Minister Santosh Gangwar in his written reply in the Lok Sabha, citing estimates of the Cotton Advisory Board stated that the exports from India for 2015-16 are likely to see increase by about 18 per cent compared with the previous fiscal year.

The minister further added that during the cotton year of 2014-15 (from October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015), 57.72 lakh bales of raw cotton were exported as against 116.96 lakh bales during the cotton year of 2013-14.

The decline in exports was mainly due to substantial reduction in import by China, Gangwar said.

The cotton year is from October to September.