Strengthening domestic Agarbatti industry

National Bamboo Mission has launched an MIS (Management Information Systems) based reporting platform for agarbatti stick production to collate the locations of stick making units, availability of raw material, functioning of the units, production capacity, marketing, etc.
With the help of this module, the linkages with the industry will be synergised better to enable seamlessly procurement from production units and information gaps can be plugged.
All NBM States are in the process of documenting all the units to assess better how further support can be given for ‘Vocal for Local’ and ‘Make for the World’ since Indian agarbatti are much sought after in global markets.
National Bamboo Mission (NBM), Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) schemes as well as States, together with industry partners have stepped up focused support to enable India to become Atma Nirbhar in the agarbatti sector, to bring back livelihoods for the local communities while at the same time modernising the sector too.
The agarbatti sector traditionally provided large scale employment to the local workforce, which however dwindled due to various factors including the ingress of cheap imports of round sticks and raw batti.
A comprehensive study was carried out by NBM in 2019 following which policy measures taken by the Government of moving raw batti imports from free to restricted category in Aug 2019 and increasing import duty on round stick uniformly to 25% in June 2020 came as a boost to the domestic units.

National Bamboo Mission is a subscheme of MIDH

India has the highest area (14 million ha) under bamboo and is the 2nd richest country in diversity, after China, with 136 species (125 indigenous). Still India is a net importer of bamboo.
Till recently, it has remained confined to the forests (12.8% of forest cover); 2/3rd located in North-Eastern States.
The restructured National Bamboo Mission (NBM) was launched in 2018-19 for holistic development of the bamboo sector through a cluster-based approach in a hub (industry) and spoke model to harness the opportunities by providing backward and forward linkages among the stakeholders – linking farmers to markets.
Direct subsidy of 50% is given to farmers at Rs 1.00 lakh per ha, 100% to Government agencies and also to entrepreneurs for setting up various product development units, etc.
The Mission is presently being executed by 21 States, including all the 9 States of NER through the respective State Bamboo Missions.
NBM is also advising States to make available quality planting material to the farmers out to carry out plantations of commercially required species, set up common facility centres and other post-harvest units in complete sync with the requirement of existing and sunrise industries for a win-win situation for farmers and Indian bamboo industry.
Ministry: Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare
Funding: Centrally Sponsored with 60:40 for all States; 90:10 for NE and Hilly States and 100% for UTs.
Components:
1. Adopting area-based, regionally differentiated strategy.
2. To increase the area under bamboo cultivation. It proposes to bring about 1 lakh hectares under plantation.
3. For marketing of bamboo and bamboo products especially of handicraft items.
4. Setting up of new nurseries and strengthening of existing ones.
5. Pest management and disease management will be a major part.
6. The scheme would help in cutting down on the import of bamboo products.
It will focus on limited States where it has social, commercial and economical advantage.

For complete analysis on schemes of Horticulture sector: click here

Source: PIB

Join Our Telegram

AI Impact Summit 2026 UPSC GS-3 S&T PT-MAINS

India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) UPSC GS-2 INDO PACIFIC – IR/PSIR

20 Nov, 25
SHARE

India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) UPSC GS-2 INDO PACIFIC – IR/PSIR IPOI is India’s open, voluntary and non-treaty-based maritime initiative for building a free, open, inclusive and rules-based Indo-Pacific through practical cooperation. Why in News? India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans Ini

AI Impact Summit 2026 UPSC GS-3 S&T PT-MAINS

19 May, 26
SHARE

AI Impact Summit 2026 UPSC GS-3 S&T PT-MAINS The India-AI Impact Summit 2026 positioned India as a Global South leader by shifting global AI debate from only AI safety and regulation to AI for development, inclusion and real-world impact. Why in News? India hosted the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 at B

Hong Kong Convention for Safe Ship Recycling UPSC GS-3 ENVIRONMENT PT-MAINS

27 Jun, 25
SHARE

Hong Kong Convention for Safe Ship Recycling UPSC GS-3 ENVIRONMENT PT-MAINS The Hong Kong International Convention, 2009 is an IMO treaty that ensures ships are recycled safely without unnecessary risk to human health, worker safety and the environment. Why in News? The Hong Kong Convention entered into force on 26 June 2

LeadIT 2.0: Leadership Group for Industry Transition COP28 UPSC GS-2 IR GS-3 S&T

14 Nov, 23
SHARE

LeadIT 2.0: Leadership Group for Industry Transition UPSC GS-2 IR GS-3 S&T LeadIT 2.0 is the second phase of the India-Sweden-led global initiative to support low-carbon transition in hard-to-abate industrial sectors. Why in News? The second phase of LeadIT was announced at the LeadIT Summit 2023, ho

India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement UPSC GS-2 IR/PSIR

03 Sep, 25
SHARE

India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement UPSC GS-2 IR/PSIR The India-EFTA TEPA is a comprehensive trade pact between India and four non-EU European countries — Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland — aimed at boosting trade, investment, jobs, services, technology and supply-chain resilience. Wh