Chandigarh, Nov 23: Punjab’s once-vibrant cotton ginning industry is confronting its worst-ever downturn, with factory owners warning that the sector is on the brink of collapse as cultivation continues to shrink across the state. Ginners, who convert raw cotton into lint and seed, said production has become economically unviable as acreage has fallen to historic lows despite a marginal recovery this year.
Industry members said that in 2008, Punjab had 422 operational ginning factories, but only 32 units remain active for the current kharif marketing cycle — marking a decline of nearly 93%. Entrepreneurs added that close to 10 more factories could shut next year without intervention from the government.
The south-western districts, considered the state’s principal cotton-growing belt, have seen acreage dip sharply following repeated crop failures since 2021. The setbacks are attributed to recurring pest infestations, weak irrigation facilities, erratic weather conditions and economic uncertainty for farmers.Official figures show that area under cotton fell to an unprecedented 96,000 hectares in 2024 before recovering slightly to 1.29 lakh hectares this season, though over 20,000 hectares have already been damaged by unseasonal rain.
Factory operators said ginning lines are running at less than 25% of their installed capacity, causing heavy losses. Veteran Bathinda-based ginner and treasurer of the Punjab Cotton Mills and Ginning Association, Kaliash Garg, said he would be shutting his unit this season after working in the industry for 47 years. He said the sector has been battered by the shortage of raw cotton as well as pest damage in major producing districts including Bathinda, Mansa and parts of Barnala, Sangrur and Muktsar.
“Cotton used to be a traditional summer crop for the semi-arid districts. As the hybrid cotton is susceptible to pest attacks, farmers are shying away from growing cotton due to economic reasons. Industrialists are setting up spinning mills with high investment, where from ginning to thread making works are done under a single roof, and the ginning operators are unable to compete with them due to low availability of cotton,” Garg noted. He added that the government ought to back next-generation Bt cotton to revive the traditional crop.
Malout-based ginner Bhagwan Bansal said that plants require at least 200 bales — around 340 quintals — of raw cotton daily, but are unable to source enough stock. “A cotton ginning unit operator has to pay about ₹10 lakh fixed electricity charges for the nine-month season from September 1 onwards. As the pest attack has severely hit crop production since 2022, we are unable to run factories. We have to pay fixed charges even when electricity is not used,” he mentioned.
Bansal said growers receive timely compensation, whereas ginning units have been ignored by the state. “The Punjab government is quick to grant compensation to affected cotton growers, but the interests of ginners have been overlooked by the respective state governments. The government is biased towards investors,” he said.
Fazilka-based second-generation ginner Munish Bansal recalled that his unit processed nearly 25,000 bales until 2021, but has handled only 2,500 this year. “There is a huge scarcity of cotton, and we are unable to run the factories. After the irrigation system was strengthened over the last decade, farmers of the semi-arid region of Malwa switched from the traditional cotton to a less labour-intensive crop of non-basmati rice,” he added.
