The Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology (CIRCOT) is one of the premier constituent institutes of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. Under ICAR organisational set up, CIRCOT comes under Agricultural Engineering Division of ICAR.
CIRCOT was established in the year 1924 by the then Indian Central Cotton Committee (ICCC) under the name of Technological Laboratory (TL) with the twin objective of assisting cotton breeders in the development of new strains by evaluating various fibre quality parameters and carrying out research on their spinning potential.
In 1966, the administrative control was transferred to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the name of the Institute was changed to Cotton Technological Research Laboratory (CTRL). The mandate for research and development widened to all aspects of post-harvest technology of cotton and value addition to cotton by-products and processing of wastes. Later from 1st April 1991, the Institute was renamed as Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology (CIRCOT). The Institute has been providing yeomen service to the trade and industry during its long sojourn of nine decades by imparting training on cotton quality evaluation and ginning and also by offering the quality assessment support for fibre, yarn and fabrics on commercial terms.
CIRCOT has served the cotton community over the nine long decades since its inception, by reorienting itself to suit the changing needs of its stakeholders. CIRCOT has spearheaded and sustained the research and development of technologies and machineries for the postharvest processing of cotton. The Institute is widely recognized for its contribution in testing, standardization and development of test methods for different types of textile materials. Presently, CIRCOT has diversified its expertise to research in utilization of other natural fibres like Banana and Coconut for technical applications, and has also started pioneering work in nonwoven technology, natural fibre based composites. CIRCOT has forayed into field of nanotechnology, plasma technology and is researching to develop environment-friendly textile processes using these break-through technologies. CIRCOT is fully aware of its strategic role in transferring the developed technologies timely to the stakeholders. It has set up a vibrant and active Business Promotion and Development (BPD) Unit which is also providing incubation facilities to potential entrepreneurs along with transferring of technology through various methods.
The Institute headquarters is located in the heart of the city of Mumbai at Matunga. The Institute has four major research divisions namely Mechanical Processing Division (MPD), Quality Evaluation and Improvement Division (QEID), Chemical and Biochemical Processing Division (CBPD) and Transfer of Technology Division (TTD. The ginning training centre (GTC) of CIRCOT located in Nagpur serve the ginning industry by training gin fitters and technicians employed in ginning-pressing units dispersed all over India. In addition to training, this centre offers technical consultancy services to gin manufacturers. There are five more Regional units of institute located at Coimbatore, Guntur, Dharwad, Surat and Sirsa.