SME Times News Bureau | 20 Feb, 2012
Corporate Affairs Minister M Verappa Moily has urged the Union Finance Minister and the Minister of Commerce and Industry and Textiles to reinstate the import duty on silk yarn to the earlier 30 percent from the prevailing five percent, at the earliest.

Moily also sought of the Centre to announce a special package of three billion rupees for sericulture industry.

The Minister said reduction in import duty in the last Budget has raised the concerns of the sericulture farmers and reelers in Karnataka. This is because import duty cut has caused the silk yarn prices to plummet from Rs. 400 per kg to Rs. 150 per kg, and the prices have not increased even after 11 months of the move, he added.

The Centre’s decision to reduce import duty on silk yarn to five percent is being protested against by the Karnataka sericulture farmers ever since the prices started to drop.

Around 80 percent of the total silk production in Karnataka takes place in Kolar, Mysore, Chikkaballapur and Chamrajnagar districts. Sericulture farmers in these areas are quite agitated as the duty cut has resulted in a considerable fall in their earnings.

Moily said that he forewarned the Central Ministers that continuation of the duty cut would adversely hit India’s silk production and open the domestic market to import from China, resulting in wipe out of silk industry from India.