An Economic Analysis of Processing of Rainfed Cotton in Virudhunagar District of Tamil Nadu, India

The cotton processing industry holds a significant position in the Indian economy as the second-largest labor-intensive activity after agriculture, providing direct and indirect employment to the Indian population. Given the commercial importance of cotton at the national and State levels, there is a recognized need to thoroughly examine the cotton value chain, which includes producers and various stakeholders. Hence this study was proposed and conducted in 2022 covering 90 rainfed cotton growers, seven ginners, six spinners and twenty-seven weavers in Virudhunagar district. The findings of the study revealed that the cotton producers receive a share of (Rs.7006.1 per quintal) 48.37 per cent of the consumer rupee per quintal. The cost and returns analysis showed that, the stakeholders at different level i.e ginners, spinners and weavers incurred Rs.7591.11, Rs.18089.64 and Rs.31251.22 to process per quintal of product i.e kapas, lint, yarn and fabrics production and received as returns of Rs.10587, Rs. 27354.16 and Rs.48934.00 by them. The weavers had the highest financial profitability (1.52) in cotton value chain, followed by spinners (1.47), ginners (1.35) and farmers (1.11).