New Delhi, Feb 19 (KNN) Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) has inaugurated a major bamboo agarbatti manufacturing unit in Assam which is set up at a cost of Rs 10 crore.

The agarbatti stick (incense stick) unit will provide direct employment to 350 people while creating indirect employment for over 300 people.

"Setting up of these units in Assam assumes great significance in wake of the Modi government's decision of restriction on import of raw agarbatti from China and Vietnam and also a hike in import duty on round bamboo sticks for agarbatti. The two decisions were taken essentially to curb the huge import of agarbatti and bamboo sticks from the two countries that had crippled the Indian agarbatti industries," an official statement read on Thursday.

The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) Chairman Saxena said the import restriction on raw agarbatti and hike in import duty on bamboo agarbatti sticks created a huge employment opportunity in India and these new units aim at capitalizing on the opportunity.

“Agarbatti industry is a key vertical of India’s village industry which employs more than 10 lakh artisans. With new Agarbatti and bamboo stick making units coming up, nearly 3 lakh new jobs have been created in this segment in the last one and half years. To reap maximum benefit from this opportunity, KVIC has also launched a program called Khadi Agarbatti Aatmanirbhar Mission to increase India’s local Agarbatti production through the Prime Minister Employment Generation Program,” Saxena said.

He also added that the new agarbatti stick making unit will also strengthen the huge bamboo-based industry in Assam.

Apart from making agarbatti sticks, the unit named 'Keshari Bio Products LLP' at Bajali district in Assam utilises a huge quantity of waste bamboo in making bio-fuel and various other products.

Expressing happiness, the Minster said that the new bamboo stick unit in Assam saying this would go a long way in strengthening the local Agarbatti industry which has a huge potential for local employment creation.

“This is the most appropriate example of “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” which aims at creating local employment and sustainable livelihood,” Gadkari added.

It is noteworthy that only 16 per cent of bamboo is used for making Agarbatti sticks while the remaining 84 per cent bamboo goes waste. However, with diverse technology employed by Keshari Bio Products LLP, every bit of the bamboo is utilized. The waste bamboo is burnt to produce methane gas which is mixed with diesel as an alternate fuel. The burnt bamboo is also used for making charcoal powder for Agarbatti and fuel briquettes. The waste bamboo is also used for making ice-cream sticks, chopsticks, spoons and other items.

At present, the consumption of incense sticks in India is pegged at a whopping 1490 tons per day but only 760 tons per day is locally produced. Hence, the huge gap between the demand and supply resulted in heavy import of raw agarbatti. Consequently, the import of raw agarbatti increased from just 2 per cent in 2009 to 80 per cent in 2019.