Mar 24:At the request of Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Govt. of India, has amended the import policy of Agarbatti and placed it from “Free” trade to “Restricted” trade, w.e.f. 01.09.2019, to restrict the import of raw Agarbatti and give a boost to the indigenous production of Agarbatti, thereby safeguarding rural employment. Further, on the request of KVIC, the Ministry of Finance, vide notification dated 09.06.2020, has enhanced the import duty from 10% to 25% on round bamboo sticks used for the manufacturing of Agarbatti. This decision of the Government will further boost local employment in the manufacturing sector of bamboo sticks.
Further, in order to tackle all aspects of the bamboo sector including high input costs, etc. The government of India has launched the restructured National Bamboo Mission (NBM), as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, in 2018.
NBM works for promoting the holistic growth of the bamboo sector by increasing the area under bamboo cultivation in non-forest land and to link growers with consumers starting from planting material, plantation, creation of facilities for collection, aggregation, processing, marketing, skill development, and brand building initiative in a cluster approach mode.
The NBM has provisions for the establishment of Bamboo treatment and seasoning plants, value addition of bamboo including the bamboo wastes generated in the primary processing and product manufacturing units, etc. in Government as well as in the private sector. The State Bamboo Missions (SBM) have been advised to focus on the complete utilization of bamboo as a raw material by value addition and waste management as provisioned in the scheme.
National Bamboo Mission has a component of “Management of Bamboo waste in primary processing units” under the activity of “Product Development and Processing” which is envisaged for the effective utilization of bamboo waste generated during various processes of the value chain. So far, 34 units of management of bamboo waste in primary processing have been established under the restructured National Bamboo Mission (NBM) from 2018-19 to 2021-22.
Ministry of MSME is also implementing a major credit-linked subsidy program named Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) for generating employment in the country by setting up micro-enterprises in the non-farm sector including under the Bamboo industry. Under PMEGP, General Category beneficiaries can avail of a Margin Money subsidy of 25% of the project cost in rural areas and 15% in urban areas. For beneficiaries belonging to Special Categories such as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs, Minorities, Women, Ex-servicemen, Physically Handicapped, beneficiaries belonging to North Eastern Region, Hill and Border areas, etc., the Margin Money subsidy is 35% in rural areas and 25% in urban areas. The maximum cost of the project is Rs.25 lakh in the manufacturing sector and Rs.10 lakh in the service sector. The number of PMEGP units assisted under the Bamboo industry during the last three years and current year is given as under:
| Year | No. of Bamboo units assisted | Margin Money subsidy disbursed(Rs. in lakh) |
| 2018-19 | 228 | 282.17 |
| 2019-20 | 264 | 290.05 |
| 2020-21 | 274 | 374.42 |
| 2021-22 (up to 21.03.2021) | 309 | 461.68 |
Besides, the Ministry of MSME is implementing the Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI), to organize traditional industries and artisans into collectives and make them competitive, provide sustained employment and enhance the marketability of products. The scheme supports the creation of Common Facility Centers (CFCs), procurement of new machinery, production infrastructure, setting up raw material banks, skill development, and training, market promotion initiatives, etc. Under this scheme, financial assistance of up to Rs. 2.5 cr. is given to ‘Regular Clusters’ having up to 500 artisans, and up to Rs. 5 cr. to ‘Major Clusters’ having more than 500 artisans. Major sectors supported under SFURTI are Bamboo, Honey, Textiles, Agro-Processing, Handicraft, Khadi, Coir, etc.
Since 2014-15 till date, 41 bamboo clusters have been approved with Government of India assistance of Rs. 98.64 cr. benefitting 9197 artisans.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises, Shri Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
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