Kanchi Silk Industry Loses Sheen

Chennai: Thousands of weavers of traditional Kanchi silk are without jobs as the silk industry, already affected due to the Domino effect of rising gold and silver prices, is now facing numerous problems, including scarcity of silk threads from silkworms, increase of fake silk sarees and the paralysis of the silk textile park in Kanchipuram.

There were more than 5,000 silk cloth shops in Kanchipuram about 25 years ago, and about 30,000 handlooms producing the silk clothes. Over 10,000 houses were located at Pillayarpalayam in Kanchipuram and each house had one or two silk looms. Besides, the surrounding areas of the temple town were also dotted with silk looms at the time.

The silk clothes produced at Kanchipuram are widely popular throughout India and it has sales centres in many parts of the country. Silk clothes were also sold through sales centres in Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Sri Lanka, the United States, the United Kingdom and European Union.

From ordinary hamlets to big cities, people want to come to Kanchipuram and buy silk sarees and dhotis for all major functions, especially weddings. People from many parts of India still come to Kanchipuram to buy silk clothes for their children also. However, the world-renowned silk industry started facing obstacles one after the other in the last two decades.

As the problems mounted, the Union government formed the silk textile park in Kanchipuram in 2005. The park was aimed at producing coordination among the silk cloth weavers, manufacturers, sellers and cooperative societies. By bringing them together at one place, the Centre wanted to encourage the silk industry. However, the silk textile park is not functioning, leaving the weavers in the lurch.

While there was no light at the end of the tunnel for the silk weavers, more gloom engulfed their lives when gold and silver prices started soaring. At present, the prices of gold and silver have reached historic highs, severely affecting the silk industry.

The Kanchi silk sarees are durable and retain their shine for many years since the weavers use zari containing gold and silver, besides silk threads. The zari contains 0.5 per cent of gold, 40 per cent silver, 35.5 per cent copper and 24 per cent silk threads. Since the level of gold and silver in zari could not be reduced, the cost of zari will also increase.

To prepare an ordinary silk saree, 700 grams of silk threads and 300 grams of zari are used. Though Tamil Nadu zari factory manufactures and provides the zari, most of the zari is bought from Surat, in Gujarat, by the Kanchipuram weavers. The cost of zari has gone up by 30 per cent to 50 per cent due to the rise in the price of gold and silver. The quality of silver is also coming down gradually.

The weavers who have been involved in the occupation for several decades, said they received 100 per cent pure silver till 1990. Due to the rise in the price of silver, instead of 100 per cent silver, only 80 per cent of silver was used while 20 per cent of copper was mixed. In 2015, the silver used for zari turned out to be a mix of 50 per cent silver and 50 per cent copper. Now, only 30 per cent of silver is used while the rest is copper.

About 0.5 percent of the zari comprises gold to give quality, beauty and durability to the silk sarees. The quality of gold is also compromised due to the rapid increase in the price of the yellow metal.

Along with the price of zari, the cost of silk threads derived from silkworms is also going up steadily. The silk threads are produced from silkworms in Karnataka and sold to the Kanchipuram weavers. Due to very low temperature and chillness now, the silkworms are not maturing and the manufacture of silk threads has come down drastically.

A gram of silk thread was bought at a price of Rs. 4 or Rs. 5 usually. It has doubled now, hitting the silk industry. Though the production of silk threads is likely to improve during the summer months, it is not known if the prices will be reduced.

Due to the increase in the prices of zari and silk threads, the cost of silk sarees using pure zari has increased several times. Wholesale silk merchants have increased the price of sarees by 30 per cent. A silk saree bought at Rs. 7,000 is priced from Rs. 12,000 to Rs. 15,000 now.

Though the silk prices have increased, people from various parts of Tamil Nadu and India have to buy silk sarees as the wedding season has commenced from Pongal. Most of them choose sarees with original zari and go to shops which sell pure silk sarees. But, the sarees with even little zari have turned out to be unaffordable for the poor families and sarees with good designs with a lot of zari are too costly even for the middle-class.

However, some of the wholesale traders said there are shops which sell fake silk sarees with fake zari. They sell the sarees at a lesser price and some of the people are buying them. The cooperative societies had placed machines in shops to find the quality of zari used in the silk sarees a few years ago. But such machines have gone old and are not functioning now. So, there are people who come to Kanchipuram and end up buying fake silk sarees which they can obtain in their places.

Assembly elections are to be announced soon and the model code of conduct will come into force once the announcement is made. Since people cannot carry more cash, people going to Kanchipuram to buy silk sarees at higher prices will hesitate to travel to the silk town. This will also affect the sale of silk clothes during the summer months this year.