India has doubled its raw silk production in the last 10 years. Production has gone up from 15,000 tons a year to almost 29,000 tons a year. With a growth rate of 7.5 per cent per annum, the silk industry is likely to become self-sustaining by 2020. India contributes 16.12 per cent of silk to the total world output. At present, India imports 6,000 to 8,000 tons of raw silk and silk fabric from China to meet the growing domestic demand and exports silk worth Rs 3,000 crores a year.

The country ranks second after China in silk production. It has an annual output of 28,700 tons and produces 74 per cent of mulberry silk and 26 per cent of the eri, tasar and muga varieties and employs over 8.3 million people.

Research and development has contributed immensely to boost production by way of new silkworm productive breeds, high yielding mulberry varieties, quality disease-free layings, scientifically-designed rearing shed, mounting devices, and high performance reeling devices.

Bivoltine silk production has doubled within a year. Output has gone up from 1,700 tons in 2013-14 to 3,800 tons in 2014-15. To boost bivoltine silk production, Rs 720 crores would be spent in north-eastern states for the next three years.