Assam is the third largest silk producing state in the country, having potential for production of 3 varieties of silk (mulberry, eri and muga), sharing around 15% of country’s total raw silk production. Muga silk of Assam is the unique golden-yellow silk produced only in India. The variety-wise production of silk in Assam during last 3 years is as under:
| Year | Mulberry (MT) | Eri (MT) | Muga (MT) | Total (MT) |
| 2015-16 | 40 | 3143 | 142 | 3325 |
| 2016-17 | 52 | 3619 | 139 | 3810 |
| 2017-18 | 59 | 4645 | 157 | 4861 |
Following plans/schemes of Government are being implemented to encourage silk production and its manufacturers in the country including Assam:
- Central Silk Board (CSB) has been implementing a Central Sector Scheme “Silk Samagra” for development of sericulture in the country, which mainly focuses on improving quality and productivity of domestic silk thereby reducing the country’s dependence on imported silk. During the year 2017-18, Rs.80.49 crore were released to different States towards support of beneficiaries for implementation of various critical components under “Silk Samagra”. Similarly, during the year 2018-19, Rs.24.62 crore has been released to different States for implementation of sericulture component of “Silk Samagra”, of which, Rs. 21.56 lakh has been released to Assam. The funds released to the State Government for assisting the beneficiaries include activities from plantation development, cocoon production, silk reeling & spinning, capacity building and allied activity.
- Under North East Region Textile Promotion Scheme (NERTPS), 32 sericulture projects are being implemented viz., Integrated Sericulture Development Project (ISDP) and Intensive Bivoltine Sericulture Development Project (IBSDP) covering Mulberry, Eri and Muga sectors in all North East States. The projects aim at holistic development of sericulture in all its spheres from plantation development to production of fabrics with value addition at every stage of production chain. These projects have been approved at a total cost of Rs. 992.05 crore with Government of India share of Rs.849.03 crore for implementation from 2014-15 to 2020-21. The projects are expected to contribute additional production of around 2,600 MT raw silk during the project period and 1,200 MT silk per annum after project period involving around 60,000 beneficiaries.
- To encourage production of silk in Assam, 6 projects are under implementation in 13 districts from 2014-15 to 2018-19 with the financial assistance of Rs.188.85 crore from Government of India to cover Mulberry, Eri, Muga & post cocoon sectors. Further, 3 projects have also been approved for Assam (2 Eri Spun Silk Mills and 1 project for Eri) during current financial year 2018-19 with a total Government of India share of Rs.55.53 crore.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Textiles, Ajay Tamta, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
