According to Sanjay K Jain, Chairman of Confederation of Indian Textile Industry and board member, Cotton Association of India, the matter is currently under deliberation. “The Suvin cotton produced in Tamil Nadu and Shankar 6 produced in Gujarat are both good quality cotton and can be projected as a global brand. The matter is in the deliberation stage,” he told at the session.

The proposal, once ready, would be placed before the Textile Ministry as well as the Commerce Ministry, Jain said. He however was unable to give a timeline for the same.

Indian cotton has no brand of its own and hence is unable to carve a niche and earn a premium, unlike US, China or Egypt, industry sources said. Irani said at a special session on developments in textile industry organised by the Merchants Chamber of Commerce and Industry that, “I will ask the industry to come up with a proposal on how to make good quality Indian cotton a global brand.”

Last week, Union Textile Minister, Smriti Irani, asked the domestic cotton industry to come up with a proposal regarding branding of the country’s cotton, primarily aimed at the export market.