Chinese silk yarn, the lifeline of the Indian power loom industry, is now slowly creeping into the handloom sector. Over 99 per cent of Bangalore silk saris are made with Chinese silk yarn.Indian-made mulberry silk is hardly used any more. Import of cheap silk yarn from China, Taiwan and Japan, while increasing power loom production, is threatening to push traditional handloom weavers into poverty. There has been a  30 per cent drop in the number of traditional weavers from 1995 to 2010. 

There is an obvious difference between the coarse textures of Indian silk yarn and the smooth fine finish of the Chinese variant. Chinese silk yarn lends itself well to power looms as it is lighter and smoother with less winding breakage than its Indian counterpart. The same yarn is also capable of withstanding heat from power looms which Indian silk cannot do.

Indian silk is produced in households with few systems of quality control. Hence the uniformity of the thread suffers. Unlike China, Indian weavers haven’t adopted technology or disease control measures. In China, saris that look very similar to traditional Benaras silk saris are made. These are brought to Benaras and sold at a much cheaper rate.

The sericulture lobby in India wants import duties raised so that Chinese yarn costs more than the Indian variety while weavers want access to cheaper raw materials with lower duties.