Intending importers can now club their orders and submit one application tothe textile commissioner instead of a separate application for each contractstipulated by him earlier.

The textile commissioner is the registering authority for cotton imports.Further, the 15-day period fixed for registration from the date of obtainingorders will be extended suitably. Recently, the government banned imports ofcotton from Pakistan under the Act of 1914 on grounds that the fibrecontains bacteria.

From a modest 30,000 bales in 1996-97 season, India's cotton imports rose to4.13 lakh bales in 1997-98 season and to 7.87 lakh bales in 1998-99 season(quantity in 170 kgs each). However, no cotton imports have been reportedduring the 1999-2000 season.

The government has admitted that during the 1997-98 season, the domesticcotton prices had increased sharply and prevailed at levels higher thanthose obtaining in the global market. While the prices during the 1999-2000season are lower than the previous years, yet they are still higher thanthose obtaining in the world market and are generally higher than theminimum support price (MSP) notified by the government.

The weighted average price of cotton ruling during the 1999-2000 season (upto October 14) was Rs 1,988 a quintal against the minimum price of Rs 1,698a quintal, showing a variation of minus 5 per cent over the previous season.It is stated that whenever the market price of kapas (seed cotton) fallsbelow MSP, the government purchases the commodity at MSP without anyquantitative limit through the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) in all thecotton growing states, barring Maharashtra where the state governmentoperates a monopoly procurement scheme. CCI has a network of 215 purchasecentres in the cotton producing states.