Feb 2 India, the world's biggest cotton producer, is likely to harvest 35.2 million bales in the 2015/16 season, down 3.6 percent from an earlier estimate, as first back-to-back drought hit productivity, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

The south Asian country had harvested 38 million bales in the previous season.

India's exports in the current year that started on Oct.1 could rise to 7 million bales, up from 5.77 million bales a year ago, due to good demand from Pakistan, Textile Commissioner Kavita Gupta said in a statement after the meeting of the state-run Cotton Advisory Board.

(1 Indian bale = 170 kg) (Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)