Silk Mark plays an important role in branding

There is a demand and supply gap of about 7000 tonnes of silk in India and this additional requirement has been met by the import of raw silk mostly from China which is mainly utilized in powerlooms, export oriented units and as warp for handloom fabrics. The landed price (CIF prices) of Chinese silk is lower than the domestic prices (Filature/CB) per Kg. of raw silk.

Apart from levying anti-dumping duty on Chinese imports into India, the Government of India has initialed many programmes to produce quality raw silk viz. implementation of Catalytic Development Programme (CDP) for popularization of improved technologies evolved by Research Institutes to enhance the production of raw silk through vertical and horizontal expansion of sericulture. Notable developments include mulberry bi-voltine silk and vanya silk, besides creating greater opportunities for gainful employment in rural and backward areas.

Several methods aimed to  improve productivity and quality at various level of production processes starting from leaf production to fabrics are being considered.

The evolving of the new Bivoltine Breeds with assistance from Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA), development of New varieties of mulberry plants with higher yields, development of improved devices, new machines and equipment for improving silk quality and productivity are some of the recent developments. Necessary efforts are also being made to import and popularize the Automatic Silk Reeling Machines for improvement of the quality of silk yarn, introduction of motorized silk reeling/spinning machines and setting up of common facility centers, establishment of Silk Conditioning and Testing Houses, etc.