State team presses for hike in import duty on raw silk

A delegation comprising leaders of all parties from the State on Wednesday demanded that the Centre increase the import duty on raw silk from the existing 10 per cent to protect domestic growers from cheaper Chinese products.

The delegation of union ministers and parliamentarians met Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and requested them to hike the import duty immediately.

Due to the current 10 per cent import duty on raw silk, cheap silk from China is flooding the domestic market. This is hurting local silk producers. To protect the interest of local sericulturists, the government should hike the import duty immediately, the delegation urged.

Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Ananth Kumar told reporters after the meeting that both the union ministers had promised to address the problems faced by domestic silk growers.

He said the Centre was ready to protect the interest of domestic producers.Karnataka, with an annual output of around 8,000 million tonnes, is the largest raw silk producing state. Over 11 lakh people are engaged in activities like mulberry cultivation, silkworm rearing, twisting, dyeing and weaving.

The delegation comprised BJP State president Pralhad Joshi, former chief ministers M Veerappa Moily, B S Yeddyurappa, former union minister K H Muniyappa and others.  
DH News Service