geoclara Joins Landmark Cotton Carbon Credits MoU at CCI's 56th Foundation Day

Insights

• At the Cotton Corporation of India's 56th Foundation Day, CITI, ICAC and Merago (geoclara) formalised an MoU to generate carbon credits through climate-smart and sustainable cotton cultivation.

• The signing came as the Government of India outlined its most ambitious cotton agenda in years — a ₹5,659 crore productivity mission, a ~7% MSP hike, and global branding through Kasturi Cotton Bharat.

  
  

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra — Cotton carbon credits in India took a significant step forward on August 1, when the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) and Merago Inc., the technology company behind the geoclara platform, exchanged a Memorandum of Understanding to promote carbon credit generation through climate-smart, sustainable cotton cultivation.

The MoU was one of four signed at the 56th Foundation Day celebrations of the Cotton Corporation of India Ltd. (CCI), held in the presence of Union Minister of Textiles Shri Giriraj Singh, alongside Maharashtra ministers Shri Sanjay Shirsat, Shri Sanjay Savkare and Shri Atul Save, Joint Secretary (Fibre) Ms. Padmini Singla, the Textile Commissioner, the Executive Director of ICAC, and representatives from research institutions, industry, Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and the farming community.

A watershed moment for India's cotton economy

The event underscored just how much momentum is building behind Indian cotton. Addressing the gathering, the Union Textiles Minister described cotton as a cornerstone of India's rural economy and self-reliance, and shared the scale of CCI's operations in Cotton Season 2025–26: one of the largest MSP procurement drives in its history, covering over 522 lakh quintals of seed cotton (kapas) across nearly 24 lakh farmer transactions, with ₹41,530 crore transferred directly into farmers' Aadhaar-linked bank accounts.

Looking ahead, the Minister announced that the Minimum Support Price for kapas will rise by about 7 per cent for Cotton Season 2026–27, and pointed to the recently approved Cotton Productivity Mission – Kapas Kanti, a ₹5,659 crore, five-year initiative to lift productivity and quality, modernise processing infrastructure, build branding and traceability through Kasturi Cotton Bharat, and promote sustainable, climate-resilient cultivation. The vision, in his words, is to carry premium Indian cotton from "Farm to Fashion to Global Market" on internationally accepted standards of certification, traceability and sustainability, a journey he tied to the larger goal of Viksit Bharat @2047.

Where geoclara fits in

The CITI–ICAC–MERAGO MoU sits squarely at the intersection of that agenda and the global carbon economy. Under the partnership framework, cotton farmers will adopt regenerative practices, including the production and application of biochar and compost from agricultural biomass, that improve soil health and increase carbon sequestration. geoclara's digital platform will underpin project implementation and carbon asset management: measurement, reporting and verification (MRV), certification, and ultimately the commercialisation of verified carbon credits, with proceeds shared with participating farmers.

For India's cotton growers, that means a genuinely new income stream layered on top of MSP support, one that rewards the very practices the Kapas Kanti mission is designed to promote. For the textile value chain, it means a lower carbon footprint and a stronger sustainability story to take to global buyers.

The other three MoUs

The carbon credit partnership was signed alongside three further agreements strengthening India's cotton ecosystem:

• CCI and ICAR-CIRCOT — capacity building and quality improvement in the ginning and pressing sector.

• CCI and GIZ — enhancing market access for cotton farmers through Kasturi Cotton Bharat, with a focus on sustainability, quality assurance and traceability.

• TEXPROCIL and Manjeet Cotton Pvt. Ltd. — production and certification of 30,000 traceable cotton bales (20,000 Long Staple and 10,000 Extra Long Staple) under the Kasturi Cotton Bharat programme.

Farmers at the centre

The day was built around the farmer. The 'Kapas Darshan' Bulletin was launched to give cotton growers timely advisories on weather, markets, scientific cultivation, quality management and government schemes. Modern equipment, Kapas Plucker Machines, Cotton Stalk Shredder Machines and Contamination Control Kits, was distributed to farmers and FPOs to promote scientific, contamination-free cultivation. A Farmer Orientation Programme featured demonstrations, awareness sessions on Kapas Kanti and the Kapas Kisan Mobile App, and even a musical presentation on Pink Bollworm Management.

Joint Secretary (Fibre) Ms. Padmini Singla observed that India's cotton sector is entering a transformative phase driven by innovation, sustainability and productivity, from Farm to Fibre, Fibre to Fabric and Fabric to Fashion. CCI Chairman-cum-Managing Director Shri Lalit Kumar Gupta reaffirmed the Corporation's 56-year commitment to remunerative prices, quality cotton production and the vision of Viksit Bharat @2047.

Why cotton carbon credits matte

Carbon markets have long been out of reach for smallholder cotton farmers, the measurement burden, certification cost and market access were simply too high. Partnerships like this one, anchored by industry (CITI), technical expertise (ICAC) and digital MRV infrastructure (geoclara), are how that changes. It also builds directly on ICAC's global carbon credits initiative for cotton farmers, which is already delivering up to $200 per hectare in pilot programs. As India scales the Kapas Kanti mission over the next five years, geoclara is proud to be building the rails that let climate-smart cotton pay — for the planet, and for the farmer.

Source: Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, August 1, 2026.