Antheraea assamensis is endemic to the Brahmaputra valley and the adjoining Garo hills. India is the world’s only producer of golden muga silk — not the largest, the only. Eri, at 7,766 MT, is the second largest silk in the country. Both are the mandate of this institute.
Position of muga and eri
| Aspect | Position |
|---|---|
| Exclusivity | Antheraea assamensis is endemic to the Brahmaputra valley and adjoining Garo hills. India is the world’s only producer of golden muga silk. |
| Geographical Indication | Muga silk registered as a GI in 2007 — the first GI granted to any product of Assam; GI logo registered separately in 2014 as an authenticity mark. |
| Scale of muga | 249 MT in 2025-26. Over 10,000 hectares of host plantation and 30,000–34,000 households in Assam; the North East accounts for over 90 % of national output. |
| Scale of eri | 7,766 MT in 2025-26 — 18.48 % of India’s total raw silk and 79 % of all vanya silk, second only to mulberry, with Assam the leading producer. |
| Employment | Sericulture engaged 98.4 lakh persons in 2025-26, across roughly 52,500 villages nationally. |
| Policy | Silk Samagra-2 ran from 2021-22 to 2025-26 with an outlay of about ₹ 4,679.85 crore, of which about ₹ 1,075.58 crore was disbursed to States, benefiting roughly 78,000 stakeholders. |
Muga and eri compared
| Parameter | Muga (Antheraea assamensis) | Eri (Samia ricini) |
|---|---|---|
| Domestication | Semi-domesticated; reared outdoors on trees | Fully domesticated; reared indoors |
| Primary host plants | Som, Soalu | Castor, Kesseru |
| Crops per year | 6 | 4 – 5 |
| Fecundity | 170 – 180 eggs | 300 – 350 eggs |
| Weight of one DFL | 1.30 – 1.40 g | 0.63 g |
| Hatching | 85 % | > 85 % |
| Effective rate of rearing | Seed 30 % | Commercial 50 % | > 75 % |
| Cocoon weight | 5.0 g (M) | 6.5 g (F) | 2.80 – 3.50 g |
| Rearing capacity | 800 dfls / acre / year | 400 dfls / acre castor; 600 kesseru |
| Raw silk yield | 8 kg / acre (20 kg / ha) | 22.5 – 36 kg / acre |
| Yarn route | Reeled — bhir, Sonalika, MRTM | Spun — takli, motorised spun machine |
| Prevailing value, 2025-26 | Raw silk ₹ 32,000–45,000 / kg (warp) | Spun yarn ₹ 3,000–4,800 / kg |
Eri yields three to four times the raw silk per acre that muga does, and rears more than
twice as reliably (ERR above 75 % against 50 % commercial). Muga compensates entirely
through price — roughly ten times per kilogram. The two crops are not competitors
for the same land so much as different answers to different farm situations.