Duty on imported Chinese silk should continue: Corporate Affairs Minister M Veerappa Moily

BANGALORE: Corporate Affairs Minister M Veerappa Moily has said the sericulture farmers of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala were quite agitated over the Centre's move to reduce import duty on Chinese silk import from 30 per cent to 10 per cent, and sought a roll-back.

"They feel this move will severely affect the 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 Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Commerce, Industry and Textiles Minister Anand Sharma.

Moily said silk growers and reelers have apprehension that huge imports of Chinese silk at reduced custom duty would give competition to domestic silk. Large scale dumping of duty free Chinese silk would injure the domestic sericulture in India.

"It is also necessary that the duty on imported Chinese silk should continue", he said.

Karnataka contributes to 70 per cent of silk produced and out of this, 60 per cent is produced in his Lok Sabha constitutency Chickaballapur in Karnataka.

"With all the turmoil in the price fluctuation and turmoil, sericulture farmers have survived till today. But with the reduction of import duty on Chinese Silk, entire serculture farmers and the industry is collapsing", he said.

"I shall thank you to take look into the matter", Moily said in the letter to the two Union ministers.