Government conducts study on COVID-19 impact on silk industry

The Indian Government has conducted a study on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Indian silk industry’ to ascertain the crisis caused to the sector and it has been observed that there was a production decline and monetary loss at every stage of the value chain.

The industry has faced various problems like loss in production, crash in cocoon and raw silk prices, transportation problem, non-availability of skilled workers, problems in selling raw silk and silk products, working capital and cash flow problems, non-availability of raw materials, reduction in demand for silk fabric, cancellation of export/import orders besides export and import restrictions.

Since textile sector is one of the highly unorganized sectors, the Government has not made any formal assessment with regard to the losses incurred by the sector. The global pandemic of COVID-19 has affected the existing modus operandi of various textile sectors by posting restrictions of social gathering, migration of laborers as well as affecting all the stakeholders right from farmers to traders/exporters in the value chain of textile sector and at the same time it has opened new window of opportunities which were previously less explored.

As on September 13, 2020, a total of 1.42 crore PPE kits had been supplied to HLL Lifecare for use of health professionals in Government hospitals. Apart from supply to MoHFW, more than 1 crore PPE coveralls have been supplied by indigenous manufacturers to State Governments and private hospitals.