Indian Cotton Now “Kasturi Cotton”, Gets First Ever Branding

India’s premium Cotton will now be known as ‘Kasturi Cotton’ in the world cotton trade. Smriti Zubin Irani, Union Minister of Textiles and Women & Child Development (WCD) launched the first-ever Brand & Logo for Indian Cotton on 2nd World Cotton Day on Wednesday through Video Conferencing.

The Kasturi Cotton brand will represent Whiteness, Brightness, Softness, Purity, Luster, Uniqueness, and Indianness.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said, “this is a much-awaited moment that TODAY the Indian Cotton has been endowed with a Brand & Logo. This event becomes more important as the 2nd World Cotton Day is being celebrated world over today.”

Recounting the importance of Cotton in Indian economy Irani said, “Cotton is one of the principal commercial crops of India and it provides livelihood to about 6.00 million cotton farmers. India is the 2nd largest cotton producer and the largest consumer of cotton in the world. India produces about 6.00 million tons of cotton every year which is about 23% of the world’s cotton.  India produces about 51% of the total organic cotton production of the world, which demonstrates India’s effort towards sustainability.”

In order to ensure sustainability, integrity and end-to-end traceability of the organic products, a certification system based on comparable international standards verified through an internationally acceptable institutional system will be put in place.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Textiles through APEDA under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has prescribed a certification system for organic Cotton which will be introduced in phases in the entire textile value chain. Similarly, prescribing a certification system for non-organic Cotton has also been taken up with APEDA so that the usages of cotton can be suitably augmented.