BIS allocates ₹38.72 crore to upgrade 21 cotton testing laboratories across India
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has allocated ₹38.72 crore to modernise 21 cotton fibre testing laboratories in key cotton-producing regions of the country, the national standards body said in a press release.
The funding is being provided under the Scheme for Supporting Other Laboratories for Creation and Augmentation of Test Facilities in Critical Areas. The laboratories covered are operated by the Textiles Committee, Power Loom Service Centres and the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI).
Under the scheme, the 21 laboratories are to be equipped with 22 high volume instrument (HVI) testers and 44 trash analysers. According to the release, 14 HVI testers and 28 trash analysers have so far been commissioned across 13 laboratories — 11 belonging to the Textiles Committee and two to the CCI.
HVI testers are instruments used to measure key fibre characteristics of cotton, including staple length, strength, uniformity and micronaire, which indicates fibre fineness. Trash analysers measure the proportion of non-lint material such as leaf, seed-coat fragments and dust left in ginned cotton. Together, these measurements form the basis on which cotton is graded and priced in domestic and international trade.
The stated objective of the exercise is to ensure standardised quality parameters across the entire cotton-to-textile supply chain by addressing critical gaps in testing infrastructure, supporting local producers and strengthening the position of Indian cotton in international markets.
Reliable testing infrastructure matters at several points in the chain. For farmers and ginners, objective fibre data can reduce disputes over quality and price. For spinning mills and exporters, it provides a verifiable basis for meeting the quality specifications demanded by buyers abroad. Where testing facilities are scarce, samples often have to travel long distances, adding time and cost.
India is one of the world's largest producers of cotton and a significant exporter of the fibre as well as of yarn and finished textiles. Quality consistency has been a recurring concern in trade discussions, particularly in competition with other major producers. The BIS scheme is aimed at narrowing the gap between the facilities available in different cotton-growing regions.
The press release did not specify a timeline for the remaining equipment, which includes the balance of the HVI testers and trash analysers planned for the 21 laboratories. It also did not give a region-wise break-up of the laboratories already upgraded.
BIS is India's national standards body, constituted under the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016, and is responsible for standardisation, certification and testing across a wide range of products and sectors. The Textiles Committee functions under the Union Ministry of Textiles, while the CCI is the Centre's principal agency for cotton procurement and related operations.
The expansion of testing capacity is part of a broader effort to align quality assessment practices in the cotton sector with internationally recognised methods. Whether the addition of equipment translates into faster grading, lower testing costs for growers and wider adoption of standard parameters will depend on how the laboratories are operated and how accessible they are to producers in the surrounding areas.
