Exports of silk and silk products from India reached $255.93 million in 2017-18 and $123.05 million between Apr-Sep 2018. The silk products exported include: natural silk yarns, fabrics, made-ups, readymade garments, silk carpets and silk waste.

Silk readymade garments formed the largest share of exports at $81.63 million, followed by fabrics and madeups at $27.34 million and silk waste at $10.70 million. Other products made up the rest of export earnings. In FY 2017-18 top five importers of silk carpet were the US ($1.40 million), UAE ($0.95 million), Belgium ($0.13 million), Germany ($0.04 million) and Italy ($0.03 million). Exports of silk waste stood at $15.69 million in 2017-18. India enjoys a unique global position in terms of production of all commercially useful varieties of silk. India is the second largest producer of silk. Sericulture provided employment to over 8.6 million people in India during 2017- 18.