Kottayam: The union ministry of commerce and industry and rubber board are gearing up to develop rubber farming with huge private investment across India. As part of this, Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA), the association of tyre companies, will invest Rs 1100 crore to promote rubber farming across northeast states.
It is for the first time in India, the tyre companies are investing money on rubber farming. Union minister Piyush Goyal had held talks with ATMA representatives to decide on this matter.
Rs 1000 crore will be utilized for developing rubber plantations in northeast states and Rs 100 crore will be reserved to improve the quality of rubber sheets. This amount will be included in a special scheme.
At the same time, the rubber farmers will get a loan through NABARD. The interest of the loan paid by the farmers will be reimbursed to their bank account.
Rubber board is in charge of supervising the project.
Rubber board chairman Dr KN Raghavan has informed that only preliminary talks on the project were carried out and a detailed discussion will be held later.
The union ministry of industry and commerce has proposed the project after examining a sharp decline in India’s rubber production.
The domestic production of rubber is recorded as 7 lakh tonne per year. At the same time, the consumption is found to be 11 lakh tonne. It is observed that India produces only 63 percent of the rubber consumed.
The central government aims to extend rubber farming in 2 lakh hectares land within 2 years.
