Bangalore: Corporate Affairs Minister M Veerappa Moily has sought a rollback of the Centre's decision to reduce import duty on Chinese silk to 10 percent from 30 percent, as sericulture farmers from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala are protesting the move.
"They feel this move will severely affect domestic sericulture activities, since there is every possibility that the prices of both cocoons and raw silk will collapse and the activities will no longer be remunerative," he said in a letter to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Commerce and Industry and Textiles Minister Anand Sharma.
Moily said silk-growers and reelers apprehend that huge imports of Chinese silk at reduced customs duty would adversely affect the competitiveness of domestic silk. Large scale dumping of duty-free Chinese silk will take place, injuring the domestic sericulture in India, he said.
"It is also necessary that the duty on imported Chinese silk should continue," he said.
Karnataka contributes 70 per cent of the silk produced in the country and out of this, 60 percent is produced in Moily's Lok Sabha constituency of Chickaballapur, in Karnataka.
"With all the turmoil and price fluctuation, sericulture farmers have survived till today. But with the reduction of import duty on Chinese silk, sericulture farmers and the industry are collapsing," he said.
"I shall thank you to take a look into the matter," Moily said in his letter to the two ministers.
PTI
