The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has unveiled a major programme to deal with the dependence of the country on import of agarbattis mainly from China and Vietnam. India imports nearly Rs 500 cr of incense sticks while its own village industry is dying for want of incentives and lack of competitiveness.
In a function in the capital, New Delhi Lok Sabha MP Meenakshi Lekhi and KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena planted 100 saplings of Bambusa Tulda, which would be used exclusively for agarbatti-manufacturing.
Saxena said taking cognisance of steep decline in setting up of new Agarbatti manufacturing units in the country and multi-dimensional problems of Agarbatti industry in India, the KVIC had conducted an internal research and found that if local farmers start growing high-quality bamboos on their lands, it would end their dependence on import of raw Agarbattis and sticks from abroad. This would not only save precious Forex, but also create employment opportunities to the people engaged in it, besides increasing the income of the farmers.
Stating that despite huge employment potential in Bamboo sector, number of agarbatti projects have been declining and leading to heavy employment loss, Saxena said that since import duty on raw Agarbatti had been reduced from 30 per cent to 10 per cent in 2011 and gradually brought down to 5 per cent in 2018 due to Indo-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (FTA), import of raw Agarbatti into India had been surged from mere Rs 31 crore per annum in 2009 to mammoth Rs 546 crore in 2018.
The impact of the import has also hampered the growth of Prime Minister Employment generation programme (PMEGP), a flagship programme of Ministry of MSME being implemented by the KVIC - involved in Agarbatti-making industry. "It is evident from the alarming figures that in 2016-17, we had established 2,831 projects of Agarbatti making, with the disbursement Rs10.06 crore as margin money and created 22,648 direct employment in this field. Sadly, in 2017-18 and 2018-19, we could establish only 279 and 397 units respectively — which has created a heavy loss in employment in the Agarbatti-making industry," the KVIC Chairman said.
Showing concern on the sudden rise in the import of round bamboo sticks used in Agarbatti making industry, Saxena said that while the average import of round bamboo sticks from 2008 to 2011 was even less than Rs 1 crore mark, average import of round bamboo sticks went up to Rs 129 crore between 2014 and 2018 - apparently after the reduction in import duty in 2011.
"But if Indian farmers can be made aware about the potential of high-quality bamboo i.e. Bambusa Tulda) — which has inter-nodal length of 22-inch (minimum inter-nodal length apt for agarbatti-making must be at least 12 inch), they can add substantially to their income by growing this bamboo suited for the incense stick making industry," he said, adding, "A research has indicated that bamboos can generate 516.33 million man-days of work every year."
Similarly, reduction in import duties on raw agarbatti from 30 per cent to 10 per cent in 2011 and its subsequent reduction to 5 per cent in 2018, has resulted into huge import of raw agarbatti from just Rs 34 crore in 2010 to Rs 546 crore in 2018.