CCI revamps cotton procurement with Kapas Kisan app and expanded centres

Farmers need to upload the required documents, including the area under cotton cultivation and their Aadhaar credentials, to register on the app.
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NAGARA GOPAL

Beginning this procurement season, technology will reduce the hassle for cotton farmers in the country. As many as 16 lakh farmers out of the 60 lakh cotton farmers in the country are already on the Kapas Kisan app, created by the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), which is set to be at the focal point of fibre procurement.

“Beginning this season, cotton farmers can book a slot for the sale of their produce over the next seven days. They can bring their produce to the designated procurement centre. Without having to wait there for their turn, they can simply choose their day to sell their produce,” L K Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director of Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) told businessline.

Farmers will need to upload the required documents, including the area under cotton cultivation and their Aadhaar credentials, to register on the app.

“We will then send the information to the respective State Governments to verify the data,” he said.

The digital platform connects farmers with markets and the CCI, ensuring transparency and efficiency,” he said. “They can also check their payment status on the app,” he said.

Procurement

The designated authority to buy cotton at the minimum support price (MSP) procured 5.05 crore quintals of cotton, spending Rs 37,500 crore, in the previous year.  The MSP for the current year is Rs.7,710 (for medium staple) and Rs.8,110 (long staple). 
“We don’t have any targets. Our mandate is to buy all of the cotton that comes to the purchase centres,” he said.

Procurement schedule

He said procurement has already begun in the North as of October 1. “In the Central part, it will start on October 15 and in the South, purchases will begin on October 21,” he said.

Stating that the procurement process has been completely revamped, he said the Corporation opened 10 per cent more centres this year, bringing the total to 550.

We have made it mandatory for every purchase centre to have at least 3,000 hectares of cotton area and a ginning mill. In this process, we have closed some that didn’t meet the criteria and opened more,” he said.

The area under cotton cultivation in 2025-26 reached 79.54 lakh hectares, an increase from 78.58 lakh ha in the previous year (2024-25). Maharashtra leads in cotton acreage with 30.79 lakh ha, followed by Gujarat (14 lakh ha), Telangana (12.42 lakh ha), Rajasthan (6.02 lakh ha), and Karnataka (4.67 lakh ha).

The Agricultural Market Intelligence Centre of Professor Jayashankar Telangana Agricultural University (PJTAU) pegged the price in the range of . ₹6,800 – 7,200 per quintal in September 2025. 

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Published on October 5, 2025