Rollback decision to defer 11% import duty on cotton: SKM warns Centre of pan-India stir

The SKM warned that the decision would drag domestic prices downwards, just as farmers prepare for harvest. Battling indebtedness and high suicide rates, cotton-growing regions will be pushed into further distress, it said.

By: Express News Service

Jalandhar | August 26, 2025 12:13 PM IST

The SKM warned that the decision would drag domestic prices downwards, just as farmers prepare for harvest. Battling indebtedness and high suicide rates, cotton-growing regions will be pushed into further distress, it said.

The SKM warned that the decision would drag domestic prices downwards, just as farmers prepare for harvest. (File photo)

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Monday lashed out at the Union government’s decision to scrap the 11 per cent import duty and the Agriculture Infrastructure Development Cess (AIDC) on cotton till September 30, calling it a “death blow” to over 60 lakh cotton-farming households, and warned of a massive agitation if the notification, issued on August 19, was not immediately withdrawn.

The SKM demanded that the Centre to fix the Minimum Support Price (MSP) at C2+50%, i.e. Rs 10,075 per quintal for cotton, and announce Rs 25 lakh compensation for the families of farmers who die by suicide.

The farmers’ body also opposed any Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that “hurts farmers’ interests”.

“By succumbing to US pressure after Washington’s 50% tariff on Indian textile exports, the Modi government has chosen to punish Indian cotton farmers — the weakest link in the global supply chain,” the SKM said in a statement, and accused the Prime Minister of “double-speak” for scrapping import duty days after declaring in his Independence Day address that he would stand “like a wall” against anti-farmer policies.

Future protest plan

Sept 1-3: Public meetings in cotton villages; burning copies of the notification; gram sabhas to adopt resolutions demanding MSP at C2+50%.

Sept 10: Signature campaigns and house-to-house leaflet distribution to mobilise support for a memorandum to local bodies and the PM.

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Mandal Mahapanchayat & march to MPs: Dates to be announced if demands are ignored.

Sept 17-18: An SKM delegation will visit Vidarbha in Maharashtra, where farmer suicides remain acute.

Numbers behind the crisis

CACP’s C2 cost of production for 2024-25: Rs 6,230/quintal. Govt MSP announced: Rs 7,121/quintal cotton. C2+50% formula (Swaminathan Commission): Rs 10,075/quintal. Estimated loss: Rs 2,365/ quintal.

Market reality: Cotton prices currently range between Rs 5,500 to Rs 6,500/quintal.

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According to the SKM, the gap between MSP and C2+50% translates into a loss of over Rs 18,850 crore in 2024-25, with one-acre farmers losing nearly Rs 31,500.

Suicide toll

The SKM highlighted data from Maharashtra, where 479 farmer suicides were reported in March-April 2025, including 250 cases in Marathwada and Vidarbha in March alone. Families currently receive Rs 1 lakh in assistance, but the SKM has demanded Rs 25 lakh with retrospective effect from 2014.

“The Modi government has waived Rs 16.11 lakh crore corporate loans in 11 years, but not a single farmer loan. If MSP at C2+50% is implemented, farmers would save Rs 25,000 even after donating the PM Kisan Nidhi of Rs 6,000 to the Prime Minister’s fund,” the SKM said.

The SKM mentioned that India’s cotton acreage (120.55 lakh hectares, 36% of the world total). Production decline over the past 11 years (from 6.56 MMT in 2014-15 to 5.50 MMT in 2023-24). Comparison of subsidies: US (12%) vs India (2.37%). Projection of world cotton output and share of China (23%) and the US (13%) by 2024-25. Detailed financial loss estimate: ₹123.28 billion theoretical gap, if an MSP was fixed at C2+50%. Context of agrarian suicides since 1991 (4.5 lakh+ as per government data, 31 daily under Modi.

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