MSME Forum of Vidarbha Industries Association and Maharashtra Bamboo Development Board jointly conducted a workshop on “Industrial Opportunities in Bamboo Sector†today at VIA Auditorium.
At the outset, Girish Deodhar, Chairman of VIA MSME Forum made an opening remark and highlighted that till 2017 Bamboo was considered as forest produce the reason why industries were not coming in this sector and India was importing bamboo material from China & Vietnam.
At present Bamboo has been classified as grass which has created scope for the MSMEs to produce various products which can become replacements of plastic products. He said Hon’ble Union Minister, Shri Nitin Gadkari, who once had shared with VIA that various Bamboo based material is being imported from China & Vietnam, so the Government has increased import duty in such material so that local industries can be promoted.
Suresh Rathi, President of VIA in his welcome address appreciated the Maharashtra Bamboo Development Board for supporting the event and with the help of the Bamboo Board, at least 5 to 10 interested entrepreneurs should come forward and set up their units in this sector. He appealed to all the participants to take maximum benefits from the expert speakers and VIA will guide them for setting up of their unit.
Dr Anita Rao, Jt Secretary of VIA introduced K Sathianathan, Managing Director, Encephalon Solutions Pvt Ltd, Gurgaon and M Srinivasa Rao, Addl PCCF & MD of Maharashtra Bamboo Development Board, Nagpur. Sania Ramchandani also introduced the eminent speakers Sanjay Singh and Dr Ram Narayan Pandey.
Floral welcome of K Sathianathan by Girish Deodhar; M Srinivasa Rao by Suresh Rathi; Sanjay Singh by Madhav Labhe; Dr Ram Narayan Pandey by Dr Suhas Buddhe.
K Sathianathan, Managing Director of Encephalon Solutions Pvt Ltd said Multimodal Logistic Park is available for storage and transit, if anyone wants to develop and store their products, National Highway Logistics Management Limited (NHLML) will provide both the facilities in MMLP and cost will be reasonable.
NHLML will also develop Logistic City in Sindi and within this they will construct residential houses, schools, hospitals, entertainment and sports centres. This MMLP will provide facilities to import, export, load, production.
While addressing, M Srinivasa Rao, Addl PCCF & MD of Maharashtra Bamboo Development Board, Nagpur said Board was established by the Govt of Maharashtra with a mandate to oversee the plantation of bamboo in the state, with larger emphasis on plantation on farm lands and supplement farm income and contribute towards resilience to climate change as well as availability of quality raw material requirement of industries. He said to promote product development keeping in view market demand, by assisting R&D, entrepreneurship & business models at micro, small and medium levels and feed bigger industries. He said Vidarbha teak, which is known as TP Teak is the best Teak and its species is also available with the Board. He elaborated that the Board has identified three species of bamboo variety for manufacturing of Aggarbatti.
They have developed an e-platform for bamboo growers for buyers and sellers facilities. In Maharashtra, alone 80% of bamboo cultivation is in the Gadchiroli District.
Program was attended by participants from Nagpur, Chandrapur, Umrer, Akola, Pulgaon, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Bhopal, Baitul, Kolhapur, etc.
Dr Ram Narayan Pandey is an expert faculty of Bamboo cultivation and its supply chain management, Assam gave his presentation on “Approach to Bamboo-preneurship.†He elaborated and focused on his presentation on four needs for Bamboo Industrialisation, which is Self Assessment of an Entrepreneur, Innovative approach to monetise local bamboo on a scale, Product development with customised raw materials and Supply chain of graded and customised raw materials. He said irrespective of who you are, businesses & profits are common and socio-ecological benefits are incidental to a Bamboo-preneur.
He stressed that challenges are being faced by the bamboo-preneur, normally four constraints for Bamboo Industrialisation are Product selection/innovation (substitution approach); Policy environment – need to process innovation; Technology calibration and Marketing Terms of Reference e.g. Plastic/Plywood products.
He further informed about various bamboo species and types of products that can be made from them. Further he added that whoever is looking to start an industry in the Bamboo Sector, should have an innovative approach to monetize local bamboo on a large scale. Bamboo has vast opportunities for investors and entrepreneurs in terms of returns on investments, value addition and value chain etc.
There is a need to monetise local varieties of Bamboo with innovation. Product development with graded raw material, customised primary processed material & supply chain of standardised raw material can be established. Bamboo also offers young Entrepreneurs avenues to establish micro and small size units of Bamboo based products.
Sanjay Singh, who is an expert faculty of Bamboo and wood, Jaipur, shared his views and insights about how Bamboo can be used commercially and industrial opportunities in this sector.
According to him, Bamboo has a huge scope of commercialization. The need of the time in this sector is farm gate processing, supply chain management & industrial manufacturing. Based on the product, selection of raw material should be done understanding their various properties, availability and their utility.
He further stated that in the current global scenario of Bamboo around 3.2% of forest cover, India has 30% of bamboo available. India contributes only 5% of the total global market. Major exporters are China.
Thailand & Vietnam and importers are the US, Netherlands, Spain and India. There are around 442 trees per person in this world and 28 in India.
Madhya Pradesh & Maharashtra have high bamboo growth in forest areas. Bamboo has utility in various industrial sectors such as Agro-forestry, Tiles Industry, Timber Industry, Food & Beverages, Utility & Consumables, Bio-energy, textile, chemical & machinery etc. There are three types of major industry such as Anchor Industries, Secondary Industries and allied industries which widely cover Bamboo based timber, mat ply, mat veneer ply, boards, machine crafts, furniture, incense sticks also adhesive, packaging and their maintenance workshops.
State of Bamboo Industrialization is based on the right technology for the right products. He also explained various feasible projects for industrialization of the bamboo sector in Vidarbha.
Dr Namdeo Usendi, former MLA, Gadchiroli shared his experiences in the bamboo sector during the concluding program.
Concluding remarks and formal vote of thanks was proposed by Sunil Joshi.