Congress for CBI Probe in ₹2.1 lakh crore ‘Organic Cotton Scam'

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India’s image compromised globally over fake certification, alleges Congress leader Digvijaya Singh

By TRH Political Desk

NEW DELHI, July 26, 2025 — The Congress today attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government over an alleged “scam estimated to the tune of ₹2.1 lakh crores in the name of selling normally produced cotton as organic cotton.” The Opposition party demanded a court-monitored CBI investigation into the alleged scam.

Addressing a press conference at the AICC office here today, senior party MP and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister noted that this had hurt India’s image at the international level as the country had lost credibility in certification of organic products.

Giving details, Singh said, in 2001, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry launched the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP), which is implemented by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA). He said, its objective is to certify and regulate the export of organic products.

“Under this framework, NPOP accredits Certification Bodies (CBs), which in turn verify Internal Control Systems (ICS). ICSs are groups of 25 to 500 farmers who grow organic cotton. As of 2025, there are approximately 6,046 ICSs and 35 CBs,” he added.

However, Singh revealed that most farmers who are shown as registered under ICSs are neither growing organic cotton nor aware of their presence in the system. “In short, ICS groups have deliberately committed fraud by adding farmers’ names to obtain Transaction Certificates,” the Congress leader pointed out.

With the result, he added, while the farmers struggle to get fair prices for their produce, some powerful traders are selling non-organic (Bt) cotton as ‘organic’, earning up to six times the profit. He said: “While these exporters are also committing massive tax and GST evasion, at the international level, India is now being seen as a ‘hub of fraud in the organic market’, leading to cancellations of recognition by global agencies.”

Singh estimated “the size of the scam to exceed ₹2.10 trillion (2.1 lakh crores) as over the past decade, 1.2 million farmers produced cotton worth ₹1.05 trillion, but commercial entities bought it as non-organic and fraudulently sold it as organic at nearly double the price.”

He said, “out of over 6,000 ICS groups comprising 2.4 million farmers, about 1.2 million have been defrauded and exploited.” “Raids on just two commercial entities uncovered ₹750 crore in GST evasion, revealing a ₹7,500 crore scam from just these two, as tax evasion accounted for only 5% of the total fraud amount,” said the Congress ledaer.

Referring to the international fallout, the former Madhya Pradesh CM said, in October 2020, GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) caught fake transaction certificates in India, banned 11 companies, and revoked the accreditation of a major certifier.

In June 2021, the USDA (USA) ended India’s automatic recognition for organic certification, while revealing that in November 2021, the EU cancelled the recognition of 5 Indian certifiers due to restricted chemicals found in supposedly organic products,” alleged the Congress leader.

He said, on August 27, 2024, he had highlighted the organic cotton fraud in Madhya Pradesh through a letter to the Prime Minister. He said he had also raised a Rajya Sabha question with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on December 20, 2024. Additionally, a letter was sent on January 24, 2025 demanding an investigation.

Accusing the ministry of complicity in the scam, senior Congress leader said, despite clear violations of its own directives since 2017, it has taken no action. Their letters and continued inaction indicate tacit approval of the scam, he remarked.

CWC Member demanded formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by the CBI under the supervision of a sitting High Court judge. He sought criminal action against 192 suspended/terminated fraudulent ICS groups (as all suspensions were revoked within just one month despite being involved in serious violations). Besides, he demanded investigation of each of the 6,046 ICS groups, and criminal prosecution of any individual found involved in the scam or fraud. Seeking transparent inspections by certifying bodies, he also demanded fair compensation to the exploited farmers.

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