The role and Challenges faced by Karnataka Silk Industries Corporation for quality silk fabric Production in India

Karnataka Silk Industries Corporation (KSIC), a state government-owned company has a century old manufacturing unit at Mysore having 139 power looms employing 871 people with a fabric production of 4,12,500 meters / annum. The unit was established in the year 1912 by the Maharaja of Mysore province. Initially the silk fabrics were manufactured and supplied to meet the requirements of the royal family and ornamental fabrics to their armed force. It started with 10 looms and gradually increased to 139 looms over a period. KSIC uses only high quality pure natural silk and 100% pure gold zari. The zari never tarnish and will look fresh even over a long period of usage. KSIC is the only organization to give guarantee for its zari saree in the form of embroidered code No. which is unique to each saree. The cost of production of the saree in KSIC is high when compared to other private owned looms such as Kancheevaram, Dharmavaram, Kashmiri, and Banaras silk as they are using tested zari. To compete with these products, KSIC is emphasizing on productions based on consumers satisfaction, utilization of natural colours for printing and dyeing, production of crepe, chiffon and georgette fabrics with an unmatched drape with pure gold and silver zari. Due to this, the demand has been growing in recent years and KSIC which has sold 3.2 lakh metres with 1.72 crore profit in 2005~06 has increased its sale to 4.7 lakh meters with 12 crore profit during the year 2010~11. The logic behind the success in the higher production of 46.9% and profit of 598% to the industry from 2005 to 2011 will be discussed. Key Words: KSIC , Pure gold zari, consumers satisfaction, Fabrics, Embroidered code & Powerloom