Govt raises Central Silk Board approval limit to ₹1 crore to speed up projects

The ministry of textiles increased the monetary ceiling to ₹1 crore from ₹50 lakh by amending Rule 22 of the Central Silk Board Rules, 1955, through a government notification issued on Friday. The change allows higher-value proposals to be cleared at the board level without repeated escalation for approvals, a process that officials said had slowed project implementation in recent years.

The decision comes as the government looks to push value-added textile exports and reduce dependence on imported raw silk for a sector that is a key source of livelihood and foreign exchange earnings. India, the second-largest producer of silk globally, employs 9.76 million people in rural and semi-urban areas in the sector.

V. Balasubramaniyan, president of the Silk Association of India, told Mint that the decision will help in faster approval of projects by the Central Silk Board and reduce delays in implementation as earlier, projects above ₹50 lakh had to be sanctioned by the ministry of textiles, a process that used to take longer.

“The immediate impact will be that the board can now take decisions on its own, significantly reducing delays in project approvals and implementation, which is expected to be beneficial for the silk sector," said Balasubramaniyan.

India’s exports of silk and silk products stood at $246 million in FY25. The country exports raw silk, natural silk yarn, fabrics and made-ups, readymade garments, silk waste and handloom products to more than 30 countries, including the UAE, the US, China, the UK, Italy, Singapore, Australia, France, Hong Kong and Canada.

India produced 41,121 metric tonnes of silk in FY25, up from 38,913 metric tonnes in FY24, with mulberry silk accounting for the largest share. The major silk-producing states are Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

According to two officials, the revision in the financial approval limit was necessitated by the rise in project costs, particularly for infrastructure creation, technology upgrades and research undertaken by the Central Silk Board.

Multiple approvals

The earlier limit had remained unchanged for decades, even as spending on seed development, disease control programmes, modern reeling units, testing facilities and digital systems increased sharply. This often resulted in delays as proposals moved through multiple layers of approval, affecting timelines on the ground, one of the officials said. The other official said the higher threshold would allow the board to take quicker financial decisions.

“Project sizes have expanded and costs have gone up, but approval limits were stuck at old levels. This was creating avoidable administrative bottlenecks. The higher threshold will help speed up execution without changing the overall budgetary control," the official said.

Industry representatives said the move could have a positive impact on exports by improving quality, productivity and consistency across the silk value chain. India’s share in global silk exports remains modest due to challenges linked to quality standardization, processing infrastructure and timely modernization.

While the impact may not be immediate, experts said smoother project implementation and faster decision-making could gradually improve competitiveness, said Raja M. Shanmugam, former president of the Tirupur Exporters’ Association.

Delayed upgrades

An industry executive said that delays in approvals had often held back efforts to upgrade production and processing facilities.

“Upgrading reeling and processing units, improving seed quality or setting up testing facilities requires timely decisions. Faster approvals can help address quality gaps, which is critical for exports to demanding markets such as Europe and Japan," the executive said, requesting anonymity. “The higher approval limit is expected to benefit a wide range of stakeholders, including silkworm rearers, reelers, weavers, researchers and small industry clusters."

Faster procurement of equipment and services is also expected to support programmes focused on productivity improvement and quality enhancement, particularly in major silk-producing states such as Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Assam, the executive added.

However, the two officials clarified that the changes do not introduce new schemes or increase financial allocations. Instead, the move is aimed at improving administrative efficiency and ensuring that existing programmes are implemented without delays. This approach aligns with the broader effort to give statutory boards greater operational flexibility while retaining financial oversight, they said.