A Passage From India

October 1, 1966 Must We Have The Rayon Industry THE ARTIFICIAL SILK INDUSTRY imposes a net annual burden of about Rs 15 crores (at the pre- devaluation rate) on the balance of payments, according to an estimate made in the August issue of the Reserve Bank "Bulletin". The net outgo over the five years 1960-64 amounted to Rs 77 crores, with receipts of Rs 35 crores and payments of Rs 112 crores. Of the payments, yarn alone accounted for Rs 61 crores, dyes and chemicals Rs 21 crores, pulp Rs 16 crores and machinery Rs 14 crores. Some of the imported yarn finds its way to non- textile users like tyres, for which 15 per cent deduction from imports has been made on the basis of a ratio computed for 1957, which is likely to be an under-estimate now. Some yarn goes to cotton and other textile producers also but that would not affect the over-all conclusion that, like the cotton mill industry, art silk also is a major spender of foreign exchange. In the ultimate analysis, this is a measure of the penalty which has been paid for the failure to increase the output of raw cotton to keep pace with the growth in cloth demand.