The Jute Corporation of India (JCI) is a public sector undertaking of the Government of India that functions as the official price support agency for raw jute. Headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal, it operates under the administrative control of the Ministry of Textiles and plays a central role in safeguarding the interests of jute cultivators across the eastern and north-eastern jute-growing belt of India.
| Name | Jute Corporation of India Limited |
|---|---|
| Type | Public sector undertaking |
| Sector | Textiles, agricultural commodity procurement |
| Headquarters | Kolkata, West Bengal, India |
| Parent ministry | Ministry of Textiles, Government of India |
| Primary function | Minimum Support Price (MSP) operations for raw jute |
| Area of operation | Jute-growing states of eastern and north-eastern India |
Jute is one of India's most important natural fibre crops, cultivated predominantly in West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Odisha, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Andhra Pradesh. The crop supports a large agrarian base of small and marginal farmers, and feeds an industry centred largely on the mills of West Bengal. Because raw jute prices are highly sensitive to seasonal variations and global fibre markets, the Government of India established a dedicated agency to undertake market intervention and ensure remunerative prices for growers.
The Jute Corporation of India was constituted as the principal instrument for implementing the Minimum Support Price scheme for raw jute announced by the Government of India on the recommendation of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP). Its core activities include:
JCI is managed by a Board of Directors and headed by a Chairman-cum-Managing Director appointed by the Government of India. The corporation maintains a network of zonal, regional, and departmental offices across the jute belt, with a dense concentration of purchase centres in West Bengal, the largest jute-producing state. Field operations are organised around the harvesting season, with procurement activity scaling up between July and December each year.
As the implementing agency for jute MSP, the Jute Corporation of India is the principal mechanism through which the central government's price assurance reaches jute farmers. Its operations directly influence the income of lakhs of cultivating households in eastern India and indirectly support the broader jute economy, which encompasses the manufacture of sacking, hessian, jute yarn, and diversified jute products. By holding buffer stocks and intervening in the market, JCI also contributes to stabilising raw material supply for the country's jute mills.