India to Set Up 10+ Cotton & Textile Labs by Dec 16: Goyal

Mumbai, Dec 2 (PTI) The government is planning to approve setting up of 10-11 testing laboratories across the country to ensure high quality of cotton and textiles for both the domestic consumers as well as for the export markets, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said on Saturday.

"I have discussed with the Textile Ministry, the Consumer Affairs Department, who will work together with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for setting up high quality cotton and textile testing laboratories," Goyal, the Union Minister for Textiles, Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs and Food and Public Distribution, said.

"In the next 15 days, by December 16, we will approve a series of laboratories across the country with an investment of about USD 6-7 million," he said.

Addressing the four-day 81st Plenary Meeting of the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) that started on Saturday, the minister said, "We want the most modern and high-quality testing laboratories to come up in different parts of the country, so that we can ensure that right from the farm till it reaches the consumers, we will make sure that very high quality textiles are available and are produced in India and are exported from India."

The government will initially roll out 10-11 laboratories in different parts of the country, seven of which will be hosted in the seven textile research associations and in another 3-4 locations that will cover the entire country wherever cotton is grown, Goyal said.

"These laboratories will be 100 per cent funded by the central government to support the private sector, particularly the farmers, so that gradually they have the recognition for producing better quality cotton and they start getting a good value for their," the minister added.

The minister also launched 'Kasturi Cotton Bharat' brand, a value-added premium quality cotton from the country with 100 per cent traceability and certification.

"The Kasturi Cotton Bharat brand is a private sector initiative with support from the government. With the launch and the efforts being done in the entire value chain, we are confident that India will take a prominent position globally in the textile value chain."

"Going forward, Kasturi Cotton Bharat will be a symbol of high, assured and world class quality serving the people across the world," he said.

With collective efforts across the value chain and technology, the government is confident that the country's textile industry can become USD 250 billion by 2030, and textile exports can increase to USD 100 billion by 2030, the minister added.

Meanwhile, the Plenary, which will commence on December 5, is attended by almost 400 delegates, including 300 foreign delegates from 35 countries across continents consisting of government representatives from various cotton growing and consuming countries, industrialists, business delegates, scientists and researchers.

This is also the 5th time that the ICAC Plenary Meeting was held in India in the last 60 years, and the first one since Covid-19.