Question : Gap in Demand and Supply of Agarbatti

(a) whether there is a huge gap between the demand and supply of Agarbatti in the country and if so, the details thereof along with the action taken by the Government to increase the production especially in Bihar and North Eastern Region (NER);

(b) whether the Government has any scheme under ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ to boost the Agarbatti manufacturing business in Bihar, Karnataka and other States and if so, the details thereof along with the allocation made so far in this regard; and

(c) whether only sixteen per cent of the bamboo is used in the country whereas eighty four per cent is going in waste and if so, the action taken by the Government for the full use of Bamboo in the country?

MINISTER OF MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES
(SHRI NITIN GADKARI)

(a)&(b): Government of India, Ministry of MSME has issued ‘Operational Guidelines on “Agarbatti Project”, under “Gramodyog Vikas Yojana (GVY)” Scheme on 04.09.2020, for implementation through the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) in the country, including Bihar and North Eastern Region, to support artisans involved in making of Agarbatti through training, hand-holding, financing etc. with intent to reduce the existing gap between demand and supply of Agarbatti. This will benefit about 1300 artisans. As part of the programme, Centre of Excellence (CoEs) with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai/Technology Centre of Ministry of MSME and Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), Nagpur are also proposed to be set up, for machine development and development of various other products. The State-wise targets of pilot project of Agarbatti Industry in the country including Bihar, North Eastern Region (NER), Karnataka and other southern States is annexed.

(c): The restructured National Bamboo Mission (NBM) is operational from the year 2018-19 and being implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture. NBM focuses on the development of complete value chain of bamboo sector to link growers with consumers starting from planting material, plantation, creation of facilities for collection, aggregation, processing marketing, micro, small & medium enterprises, skill development and brand building initiative in a cluster approach mode. NBM has a component of Management of bamboo waste in primary processing units in which bio-char, bamboo charcoal, bio energy etc. are included to ensure the complete utilisation of bamboo. During 2018-19 to 2020-21 (28.02.2021), 22 nos. of Management of bamboo waste in primary processing units have been set up with an expenditure of Rs. 328.75 lakh.