Market opportunities for bamboo MSME Clusters for sustainable development
Student name: Ms Konpal Sharma
Guide: Dr Sapna Narula
Year of completion: 2018
Host Organisation: Foundation of MSME Clusters
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Ms Sangeeta Agasty
Abstract: With the growing global concern, Bamboo is a critical resource as it is very efficient in
reducing carbon and green house gas emission. India has 30% of the world’s bamboo
resource, but it constitutes only 4% of the global market. With 90 Lakh Hectare of Bamboo
forests, India captures only about 4.5% of the world market of bamboo. There are more than
5 million people, half of them being women in the tribal region across 18 states out of the 29
states. However, in the bamboo processing and product manufacturing segment, the number
is likely to be around 3 million only directly and indirectly. While this bamboo resource has
been augmented by a range of public initiatives such as the amendment of the Indian Forest
Act to explore the economic possibility of bamboo and National Bamboo Mission Plantation
drive, but not sufficiently harnessed in terms of its market application. There is a huge scope
for replacement of less sustainable resources like timber, plastic, steel, etc. and creating a
market. This study, thus, attempts to identify the products where bamboo can substitute
unsustainable resources and understand the commercial potential for Bamboo products in
Housing and Construction Industry such as tiles, panels, scaffolds etc. in India in order to
create a market opportunity for the Bamboo Clusters. This study is based upon a combination
of secondary data and personal interviews with the various backward and forward linkages
along the entire value chain such as entrepreneurs, buyers, technical institutions, R&D,
exporters, etc. to understand the sector in a holistic manner.
Keywords: Bamboo, Cluster, Market opportunity, Construction and Housing Industry
