India is one of the fast-growing forest-based industries in India. The growing knowledge domain, including the synergistic contribution from the flagship schemes of the government Forest-based industries in India, includes the paper industry, match industry, silk industry, lac industry, sports goods industry, handicraft industry, medicinal herbs, Timber and Sandalwood industry etc.
Forest-Based Industries in India
1. Paper Industry
2. Match Industries
3. Silk Industry
4. Silk Textile Industry
Paper Industry
The pulp and paper industry is one of India’s key industries, and it is highly fragmented. Currently, there are approximately 700 paper mills in India with 33 in the large-scale sector.
The first effort to produce paper with modern techniques was made in 1816 in Thanjavur (Tamil Nadu). The first successful paper mill was set up in 1879 in Lucknow. Paper industry is a weight loss industry now. So localization of this material is mainly in areas of raw material.
During the 1990s, the per capita consumption of paper was 3.3 kg which has now increased to 8 Kg.
Major Pulpwood Species:
- Bamboo –
70% of the raw material for the paper industry is obtained from bamboo in India.
Karnataka is the largest producer, followed by Assam.
2. Casuarina spp.
3. Eucalyptus spp.
Match Industries
It is one of the oldest wood-based industries in India. Tamil Nadu has about 75 per cent of the total wood industries in India. The first match factory in India was set up in 1921 (Ahmedabad). The matchstick is made of a special kind of softwood.
The per capita consumption of matches in India increased from 2.45 kg in (1970) to 4.25 kg in (1987).
The wood of the trees is called
- Dhoop
- Salai
- Market
- Semal Sundri, etc
Silk Industry:
There are two stages in the silk industry:
• Sericulture and obtaining of silk fibres
• Production of silk textiles from silk fibres (silk textile industry)
Sericulture is a completely forest-based industry. Sericulture is done mainly on mulberry trees. Besides it, sericulture is also done on the trees ‘like oak, mahua, castor, sal, plum, Kusum, etc.
More than half of the total silk production in the country is done in Karnataka alone. Other major silks-producing states are West Bengal, Jammu & Kashmir, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, etc. Several kinds of silk are produced in India:
Mulberry silk- Silk made by sericulture on mulberry trees. It is the best kind of silk. 85% of the silk produced in the country is mulberry silk. It is produced in Karnataka (Bengaluru, Mysore, Kolar and Tumkur districts), West Bengal (Bankura, Murshidabad, Midnapur and Burdwan districts), Jammu & Kashmir and Assam.
Muga silk- It is also produced by sericulture done on the mulberry leaves. Its production is mostly done in Assam, West Bengal and Jammu & Kashmir.
Tasar silk- It is produced by sericulture done on the wild mulberry trees. The major tasar silk producing states are Jharkhand, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh.
Eri silk- It is produced by sericulture done on the leaves of castor. It is low-quality silk.
Silk Textile Industry:
It is indirectly a forest-based industry. There are three tendencies of its localisation (in the country):
Raw materials based centres-Mysore, Bengaluru, Coimbatore and Srinagar.
Demand-based centres in religious places (market-based centres)- Varanasi, Tirupati, Madurai, Kanjivaram.
Industries are set up at commercial or collection centres- Bhagalpur (Bihar), Erode and Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Mumbai.
Karnataka is the largest producer of silk fibres in India. About half of the silk fibres in the country are produced by Karnataka alone.
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