ASSURED: With ISI mark for silk products, consumers can be sure of the quality.

BANGALORE: Silk and zari, synonymous to the Indian wardrobe for centuries, will soon receive the ISI mark with recommendations of purity standards by a committee set up by the Ministry of Textiles. The standards have been fixed for silk and zari for the first time in the country to prevent consumers from being cheated by unscrupulous traders.

The standards, on the lines of the Wool Mark, have been suggested by a committee headed by T.H. Somashekar, Director of Central Silk Technological Research Institute (CSTRI) here, and include members drawn from all sectors of silk industry such as weavers, traders, exporters and manufacturers.

The committee has forwarded the recommendations to the Ministry of Textiles, which in turn would be sent to Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), functioning under the Ministry of Industries.

Sources told The Hindu : "Once the BIS notifies the standards, it will give little scope for traders to cheat customers as they will have to sell the silk products based on the classification decided by the committee." Legal action can be initiated against a trader if he is found to have cheated the customer.

The committee has recommended three classifications for silk products — Pure Silk, Blended Silk and Part Silk. Silk is an animal fibre in the classification of natural fibre.

A trader can claim his product as pure silk if the fabric comprises more than 95 per cent silk yarn. If it is 50 per cent then it is blended silk, while basic fabric containing 25 per cent silk yarn has been classified as part silk.

Fixing the standards for zari has come at a time when the prices of gold and silver are soaring, and there are more likely chances of consumers being cheated.

Silver is being traded around Rs. 20,000 a kg and gold around Rs. 950 a gram.

The quality of zari used in India is unique, while fake zari darkens over a period of time.

For zari to be considered pure, it should contain a minimum of 50 per cent silver and 0.5 per cent gold along with copper within permissible levels. Traditionally, the core of the zari is silk on which a fine wire of silver is wrapped, which is later gold plated.

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