MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's cotton exports in 2016/17 are likely to fall 17 percent from a year ago to 6 million bales, a leading trade body said on Thursday, as an appreciating rupee dented the competitiveness of the Indian fibre in the world market.

The world's biggest cotton producer is likely to have harvested 33.63 million bales of cotton in the 2016/17 season that started on Oct. 1, slightly down from 33.78 million bales a year ago, the Cotton Association of India said in a statement.

Pakistan, Bangladesh, China and Vietnam are the major buyers of Indian cotton.

(1 Indian bale = 170 kg)