India bats for blockchain-enabled Kasturi cotton at the ICAC meet 

Lalit Kumar Gupta, chairman and managing director, CCI told CNBC-TV18, “A protocol has been finalised for 29 mm and 30 mm cotton. After procurement of cotton, it passes through a rigorous process, where standardised quality parameters are ensured which includes length, moisture, fibre strength and so on. The quality of Kasturi cotton is based on three pillars namely traceability, certification and branding.”

Other than Kasturi cotton, he added, CCI through Bale Identification and Traceability System (BITS) using blockchain technology will ensure no bales will be sold without traceability.

Meanwhile, Kulin Lalbhai, executive director at Arvind Limited said, “Such a branding is a very bold move. It will ensure that everyone in the value chain benefits. It’s a huge initiative by the Indian government—Texprocil is driving the initiative and industry is supporting it. The investment for branding will be made by the government and industry equally.”

Further, actor Pankaj Tripathi is named the face of Kasturi cotton. The ministry, trade bodies and industry will be aggressively promoting it. Kulin Lalbhai added, “We need to get the supply side excited about it by creating more awareness around it in the next three-four months.”

On day one of  the eighty-first plenary meeting of ICAC, the Union Minister Piyush Goyal had launched the branding initiative for this speciality cotton. During the launch, he said the textile ministry and Bureau of Indian Standards will be setting up 10-11 modern and high-quality textile testing laboratories. He said in two weeks’ time, approvals for such laboratories will be in place.