India's cotton exports increased 137 per cent to 83 lakh bales, of 170 kg each, during the crop year October-September 2009-10, over the previous year. Minister of State for Textiles, Panabaaka Lakshmi today gave the provisional export figure for the cotton for 2009-10.In a written reply to Lok Sabha, she said the country had exported 35 lakh bales of the natural fibre in the 2008-09 crop year. She informed, in the wake of rising cotton prices in the domestic market, the government has recently restricted exports of the fibre and also imposed an export duty of 2,500 rupees per tonne on raw cotton. As per the estimates of Cotton Association of India, the production of the natural fibre in 2009-10 is estimated at 305.5 lakh bales.