As a rubber grower with a plantation in the Coorg district of Karnataka, it’s disheartening to see our country having to rely on imports to meet its domestic demand, even when we have the requisite resources to be Atmanirbhar. 

Even as domestic demand for rubber continues to grow, small and medium enterprises who’re engaged in rubber production in their plantations, are contemplating switching to other crops. 

This is because India’s biggest tyre manufacturers prefer to import rubber, rather than buy the same at a fair price from domestic producers. 

The government levies an import duty of 25% on natural rubber, and 10% on compound rubber or finished goods. Unscrupulous traders are misusing this provision, importing natural rubber and labelling it as compound, thus managing to buy imported rubber at a cheaper price than domestically produced rubber. Even the big tyre manufacturers are taking advantage of this inverted duty structure, leaving domestic rubber producers in the lurch. 

According to the Rubber Board of India, the cost of production of 1 kg of natural rubber was estimated at Rs 172 in 2016, but has increased to around Rs 250 now. Meanwhile, the prices for indigenously produced natural rubber in the domestic market are in a free fall, currently trading at just around Rs 135, whereas 10 years ago this price was around Rs 240.

If this trend continues, India’s hundreds of hectares of rubber plantations will fall into disuse; growers will continue transitioning to other crops and our import dependence for rubber will grow – all because we were unable to rein in the unscrupulous traders and big tyre manufacturers who’re benefiting from the current inverted duty structure. 

To address these issues, it is essential that rubber cultivation should fall under the Ministry of Agriculture and the minimum import price ( MIP) for imported rubber is capped at a level that is fair to local rubber growers, i.e minimum Rs 260/kg of RSS4 Graded Sheet Rubber and a similar MIP should be fixed for latex rubber too. This will ensure that imported rubber does not unfairly compete with locally produced rubber, and will allow domestic producers to receive a fair price for their product.

Sign my petition to #SaveIndianRubber. 

_____________________________________________________________

Update - 2nd February 2023: When this petition was started in January 2023, India levied an import duty of just 10% on compounded rubber, which was a major pain point for rubber growers. In the Union Budget 2023, the Indian government has increased the import duty on compounded rubber to 25% or Rs 30/kg, whichever is lower, bringing it at par with the import duty on natural rubber. While this is a welcome move for the rubber sector, a lot more needs to be done, as explained in the petition.