New Delhi A day after agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said he was kept in the dark about the ban on cotton exports, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday directed a group of ministers to “urgently review” the controversial decision.

Singh’s directive, made public by a statement on his office website, came amid strong protests by leaders of key cotton-producing states cutting across political parties, including Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, fearing an adverse impact of the ban on farmers’ earnings.