3. JB

5. According to a report in “The Hindu” on the 8 th of March 2010;  Production of natural rubber in the country is keeping an uptrend of an average four per cent with the cultivation base and the productivity increasing, especially in Kerala which accounts for 80 per cent of the country's total output.  India's total output was 8.65 lakh tonnes in 2008-09, marking a 4.74 per cent growth from the previous year.  In 2008-09, rubber was cultivated in Kerala in 5.17 lakh hectares, higher by 5,430 hectares over the previous year.  The State produced 7.83 lakh tonnes of rubber during the year, marking an increase of 4.03 per cent.  The State has been maintaining the uptrend in productivity from 1,190 kg per hectare in 1998-99 to 1,514 kg per hectare in 2008-09.  The increase in domestic production helped reduce the import of rubber into the country, the review said. JB

6. With around 6000 unit comprising 30 large scale, 300 medium scale and around 5600 SSI/tiny sector units, manufacturing 35000 rubber products, employing 400 hundred thousand people, including around 22000 technically qualified support personnel, with a turnover of Rs.200 billions and contributing Rs.40 billions to the National Exchequer through taxes, duties and other levies, the Indian Rubber Industry plays a core sector role in the Indian national economy. The industry has certain distinct advantages like:  An extensive plantation sector  Indigenous availability of the basic raw materials, like natural rubber, synthetic rubber, reclaim rubber, carbon black, rubber chemicals, fatty acids, rayon and nylon yarn and so on.  A large domestic market.  Availability of cheap labor.  Training facility in various technical institutes.  On-going economic reforms.  Improved living standards of the masses. JB

7.  India is the third largest producer, fourth largest consumer of natural rubber and fifth largest consumer of natural rubber and synthetic rubber together in the world.  India is the world's largest manufacturer of reclaim rubber. In fact, India and China are the only two countries in the world which have the capacity to consume the entire indigenous production of natural rubber and thereby obviate the compulsion and over dependence on exports of surplus quantity of natural rubber.  The growth prospect is enlarged by a boom in the vehicle industry, improved living standards of the masses and rapid over-all industrialization. JB

8. The wide range of rubber products manufactured by the Indian rubber industry are –  Auto tyres  Auto tubes  Automobile parts  Footwear  Belting  Hoses  Cycle tyres and tubes  Cables and wires  Camel back  Battery boxes  Latex products  Pharmaceutical goods JB

9. The important areas which the industry caters to include are -  All the three wings of defense  Civil  Aviation  Aeronautics  Railways and agriculture transport  Textile engineering industries  Pharmaceuticals, mines, steel plants JB

10.  India's exports of rubber products, including tyres exceed Rs.2000 Crores. The range of products exported are –  Automotive tyres and tubes  Rubber and canvas footwear  Cycle tyres  Pharmaceutical goods  Rubber hoses, cots and aprons  Belts and beltings  Sheeting JB

11.  The yardstick to measure the growth rate of the industry is the rubber consumption.  Besides rubbers-natural, synthetic and reclaim there are other raw materials required by the industry.  These include: Carbon black, rubber chemicals, tyre cords, plasticizers, process oils, zinc oxide, stearic acid, titanium dioxide and other miscellaneous chemicals which are all available indigenously.  This apart, almost all types of major rubber machinery being manufactured in the country. JB

12.  The rubber production fluctuates between months and it is normally low during the rainy season.  Growth in industrial production: automobile industry.  The ratio of utilization of domestic production and imported rubber by tyre manufacturers.  Government policies have a profound influence on rubber prices. These include subsidies, restrictions on ports etc.  International rubber price movements, have a slow influence.  Stockists and speculators also play a significant role in influencing prices. JB

13.  "Champion" rubber trees can produce more than 10 kilograms of rubber a year  Consumption of rubber in the United States is about four times as great per person as in the rest of the world.  Rubber can be made so elastic that it will stretch to more than nine times its normal length  More than half of the rubber used in the world goes into tyres and tubes  Rubber plantations throughout the world cover over 9.2 million hectares  Bubble gums contain rubber JB

14.  Synthetic rubber is made from chemicals obtained from raw materials such as petroleum, natural gas, coal, coke, grain, and potatoes.  Thomas A. Edison once made rubber from the latex of a giant goldenrod plant  World's largest tyre in regular production contains over 3,200 kilograms of natural rubber. It is used in mining operations in North America  World production of synthetic rubber increased more than tenfold during 1941 to 1944 because of the war effort. JB

15. Presented By, Jithin Babu