Bengaluru: To boost the prospects of silk industry, the Central Silk Board will launch its second Centre of Excellence here tomorrow. Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani will launch the Centre, CSB Chairman K M Hanumantharayappa told reporters here, adding, it would boost the silk industry which is stagnating for some time. The first centre was set up at Ranchi in Jharkhand.
Irani would also launch tomorrow the Automatic Reeling Machine at the CSB premises here which will enable the Board to attain self-sufficiency and bring silk import to zero level by 2020, he said. “The country is importing nearly 4,000 metric tonnes of high quality raw silk from China and with the establishment of indigenous automatic reeling machines, the Board will be able to attain self-sufficiency and bring silk import to zero level by 2020,” he said.
The commercial model of indigenous automatic silk reeling machine has 160 to 200 ends per machine suitable for medium scale filatures, Hanumathraayappa said. The machinery package of 200 ends capacity can produce about 20 MT of silk per year utilizing cocoons produced by around 200 farmers, he said.
Produced by CSTRI vendors in Coimbatore, the machine costs Rs 65 lakh compared to Rs 75 lakh of those imported from China and the Board would offer 50 per cent subsidy to reelers who install such machines, Hanumathraayappa said.
At present, the country is producing nearly 4,000 tonnes of 4A grade of silk, equivalent to the top grade of silk imported from China, Hanumanthraayappa said.
Under the “Make in India” initiative, CSB had been supporting installation of ARM units by private entrepreneurs to promote production of import-substitute bivoltine silk, he said. Total raw silk production also witnessed a marginal fall last fiscal at 28,523 mt, he said.
