Cotton plant is cultivated mainly for fibre and its seed are a rich source of protein and edible oil. Cottonseed oil has many applications varying from medicinal to technical purposes. The other uses are for cosmetic creams, glycerol, lubricants, soap stocks, etc. The oil cake can be used as animal feed, filler for plastics & fertilizer ingredient. India is one of the largest producer of oil seeds and oil bearing materials and both edible and non-edible oil in the world. Cottonseed oil is cooking oil extracted from the seeds of cotton plant of various species, mainly Gossypium hirsutum and Gossypium herbaceum. Cotton grown for oil extraction is one of the big four genetically modified crops grown around the world, next to soy, corn, and rapeseed (canola). The cottonseed has a similar structure to other oilseeds such as sunflower seed, having an oil bearing kernel surrounded by a hard outer hull; in processing, the oil is extracted from the kernel. Cottonseed oil is used for salad oil, mayonnaise, salad dressing, and similar products because of its flavor stability. The cottonseed oil undergoes intensive treatment after extraction to reduce the level of gossypol found in untreated cottonseed oil, the consumption of which may produce undesirable side-effects. Its fatty acid profile generally consists of 70% unsaturated fatty acids including 18% monounsaturated (oleic), 52% polyunsaturated (linoleic) and 26% saturated (primarily palmitic and stearic). Cottonseed oil is described by scientists as being "naturally hydrogenated" because the saturated fatty acids it contains are the natural oleic, palmitic, and stearic acids. These fatty acids make it stable frying oil without the need for additional processing or the formation of trans fatty acids. Cotton seed oil is not required to be as fully hydrogenated for many purposes as some of the more polyunsaturated oils. On partial hydrogenation, the amounts of monounsaturated fatty acids actually increase. When hydrogenated to a typical iodine value of about 80, for example, its fatty acid profile shifts to 50% monounsaturated, 21% polyunsaturated, and 29% saturated, which are all well within current diet/health guidelines. Cottonseed oil resists rancidity and therefore offers a longer shelf life for food products in which it is an ingredient. Refined cottonseed oil, which contains practically no gossypol, is pale yellow in colour and can be used directly as a cooking medium. Among the agro-based industries, oil seeds crushing and vanaspati, industry forms a major group employing 0.5 million persons. Cottonseed crushing industry has made continuous progress in the country. The growing shortage of other edible oils in the country during the sixties and seventies gave a greater impetus to increased use of cottonseed for oil extraction. Special mention may be made of the incentives given by Government by way of (i) excise rebate on cottonseed oil used for vanaspati manufacture, (ii) specifying that a minimum level of cottonseed oil should be used in vanaspati manufacture, and (iii) subsidy for export of cottonseed meal after extraction of oil. The All-India Cottonseed Crushers' Association, formed in 1959, has also played a major role in increasing utilization of cottonseed oil. There is an ample space and very good scope for cottonseed oil. New entrepreneurs should venture into this field. Few Indian Major Players are as under: Akash Agro Inds. Ltd. Ankur Protein Inds. Ltd. Arjuna Cotton & Spinning Mills Ltd. Bhakra Industries Ltd. Birla Agro Pvt. Ltd. Birla Cotsyn (India) Ltd. Coromandel Agro Products & Oils Ltd. G S Oils Ltd. Gujarat Ambuja Proteins Ltd. Kedia Overseas Ltd. Morinda Overseas Inds. Ltd. Morvi Vegetable Products Ltd. P H Sales & Services Ltd. Raghunath Cotton & Oil Products Ltd. Ramdeo Oil Inds. Ltd. Rom Industries Ltd. Shri Sainath Proteins Ltd. Siddaganga Oil Extractions Pvt. Ltd. Sona Oil & Chemical Inds. Ltd. Thapar Agro Mills Ltd. Tirupati Industries (India) Ltd. Vimal Oil & Foods Ltd.