Government to consider 30% import duty hike on raw silk
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to look into the Karnataka government’s proposal seeking a hike in the import duty of raw silk. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah met Modi on Monday and sought his intervention to protect silk growers of southern states including Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Siddaramaiah was leading a delegation of state MPs, ministers and top leaders in New Delhi. “The delegation also requested for a hike in the import duty of silk to 30 %, to protect the interests of the mulberry growers in the state. The Prime Minister said this request would be examined,” said a statement issued by the prime minister’s office. At present, the government imposes 10% of import duty on raw silk. Till June this year, the import duty was 15%. After reduction in import duty, cocoon prices have gone down by over 60%. Currently, the prices have been oscillating between Rs 170 – 300 per kilo, causing huge distress among mulberry farmers. Several states have requested the government to increase the import duty to 30% as a measure to protect the interest of Indian mulberry farmer. India is world’s second largest producer of silk after China and the industry provides employment to more than 8 million people. The domestic silk output has fallen to 23 thousand tonnes, while the annual demand is 26 thousand tonnes. India has imported nearly 4 thousand tonnes of raw silk from China in the last one year. In 2015-16 (April to June), production of raw silk has been 5,425 MT so far. Silk exports in India have been on a negative path over the last five years, falling to all time low at $83.46 million in 2014 from $149.40 million in 2013. The US and the UAE are two biggest export destinations for Indian silk goods. India earned about $127.56 million from silk goods export to these two markets in 2013-14. Other major buyers of Indian silk are the UK, France, Germany, Italy and China.
August 25, 2015 | 5:22pm IST.
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