Cotton exporters, who fail to ship the quantity allocated to them within the stipulatedperiod, will be debarred from future allocations, according to tough norms of the commerce ministry. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has said it would also initiate penal action against the defaulting exporters. Cotton exports are being restricted through a quota in the wake of shortages. While initially, the quota allocation was 55 lakh bales (170 kg each), the same has been increased to 65 lakh bales.
“The exporter shall be liable to a penalty of not less than ten thousand rupees and not more than five times the value of the goods or services or technology in respect of which any contravention is made or attempted to be made, whichever is more,” DGFT said. According to the modalities, allocation will be made to those exporters who must have exported cotton in either of the two previous cotton years.
“Allocation will be done on a pro-rata basis with a ceiling of 4,250 tonne per Importer Exporter Code (equal to 25,000 bales) and floor of 100 tonnes per IEC,”it said.
An applicant can apply for a quantity which is the higher of its export of cotton in the two previous cotton years (2008-09 and 2009-10) subject to a quantity ceiling of 4,250 tonne, it added.
According to the agriculture ministry data, the country is estimated to have produced a record 33.9 million bales in 2010-11 crop year against 24.2 million bales in the previous year.
