QCO On Cotton Put Off By A Year By Textiles Ministry
“The Textiles Ministry has put off implementing the Quality Control Order (QCO) on cotton bales for a year, following protests and stiff opposition from Vidharbha based cotton ginners.
“The implementation of QCO on cotton also called BIS on cotton bales has been extended till August 27, 2024” ToI reported.
The Textiles Ministry had approved the QCO for mandatory certification of cotton bales to augment supply of good quality cotton to the textile industry in February 2023 and was to come in effect from September 1, 2023.
Following concerns from all India ginners and the Cotton Association of India (CAI) over requiring stringent standards, the Indian government had extended implementation of QCO to November 27, 2023, earlier in August.
The Vidharbha Cotton Association, which had given a call for boycott of Cotton Corporation of India’s (CCI) tendering process last week over the QCO, has however, demanded a full revocation of QCO on cotton.
The Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) was coordinating with ginners, traders, and other relevant stakeholders throughout the country to ensure a smooth implementation of QCO.
