Karnataka and India’s Silk Industry: A Comprehensive Analysis of Sericulture Dynamics

India is the second largest producer of silk with 36,453 MT (2022-23) after China and also the largest consumer of silk in the world. Asia is the main producer of silk in the world and produces over 95 per cent of the total global output. In India, mulberry silk is produced mainly in the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir and West Bengal, while the non-mulberry silks are produced in Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Orissa and North-Eastern states. Much of silk exports earnings is from silk garments, silk carpets and silk wastes, which is about 1,773.38 crore Rs. in total in 2022–23. Mulberry is the largest contributor to the total raw silk production with the compound annual growth rate of 3.09 per cent at 1 per cent level of significance. Tasar silk production registered highest growth rate of 13.67 per cent at 1 per cent level of significance and Jharkhand is the major contributor of about 80 per cent for the total tasar silk production. Karnataka is the leading producer of mulberry silk whereas Assam is currently the largest producer of Vanya silk. Telangana registered a highest compound annual growth rate of 21.1 per cent at 1 per cent level of significance followed by Maharashtra (16.9%). Ramanagara is having highest area under mulberry (20804.56 hectares) followed by Chikkaballapura (20544.62 hectares) and Kolar (19907.79 hectares) in Karnataka.