India has both Polyboltine and Univoltine moths. Polyvoltine meaning many broods in a season or year and Univoltine meaning one brood per year. The silk worm grows to one and one half to two inches and is ready to spin a cocoon. The cocoons are sorted out and hauled to nearby market or to a filature where the rearers receive cash payment for their cocoon crop. Each cocoon may contain as much as 200 to 300 meters or reelable fibroin filament. Different types of equipment are used for reeling the cocoons. they are Charkha, Cottage Basin and Multi-end reeling machines. In addition to these a semi-automatic reeling unit is also being used. Establishment of any method is wholly dependent on the availability of sufficient quantity and quality of cocoons.

The modern reeling machine is known as filature. The reeling involves sorting, boiling, re-reeling and packing. The raw silk yarn is then examined and bundled into books which are then in turn packed in a bale. Each book weighs about 5 lbs. and there are about 30 books to a bale which weighs about 150lbs. The final stage is weaving. The bulk of Indian silk is hand-woven and loomers weave the pattern. If cocoons are kept un-disturbed, the pupa is metamorphosed into a silk moth. It then breaks open the cocoon and emerges as a winged silk worm. The cycle keeps on repeating 6 to 8 weeks apart. There are four stages: Eggs, Larvae, Pupa and Adult.

The silk worm feeds on Mulberry leaves. After the cocoon is reeld either by Charkha or by modern filature, the raw silk is thrown or twisted and finally woven or handloomed or powerloomed to make the silk fabrics. Silk twisting or throwing is the intermediate and compulsory process between reeling and weaving. The throwing process includes: winding, twisting, doubling or tirpling and warping. Out of these, twisting is the major part.

In the case of Tussar silk, the worms grow in nature, building their cocoon in twiga. Four crops are taken in a year. A good reserve with 100 trees yield 60KG cocoons. The hand-spun fabric has a big demand. Tussar cocoons are hard to reel, only on-tenth or 30 yards are reelable silk, the rest is hand-spun.