Northeast’s ‘green gold’ stifled by outdated rules, CII-backed report warns
Guwahati: Despite holding more than half of India’s bamboo stock, the Northeast continues to be shackled by outdated regulations and bureaucratic hurdles that prevent the region from realising its full economic and climate potential, a new report has warned.
Prepared by CanBoo for the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the white paper says that even after the Centre reclassified bamboo as a non-timber forest product in 2017, state-level restrictions, fragmented governance, and poor implementation have left the sector overregulated, under-institutionalised, and far below its potential.”
The report cautions that without urgent reforms, the region risks squandering a “historic opportunity” to turn bamboo into a driver of jobs, exports, and sustainable growth.
While the “One Nation, One Pass” digital permit system introduced in 2023 was meant to ease inter-state transit, the report found that Assam, Tripura, and Mizoram still rely on manual verification, transit permits, and royalty structures that contradict national policy.
“In many states, enforcement remains rooted in outdated forest control systems,” the paper notes, calling compliance bottlenecks “the single biggest hurdle to growth.”
India holds nearly 20% of global bamboo resources, spread across 8.96 million hectares, but captures only 4% of the USD 70 billion global bamboo market. In comparison, China commands 65% due to industrial clusters, export-driven policies, and strong branding.
“The Northeast is the richest bamboo geography in India and the most promising for industrialisation. Yet, despite its natural advantages, bamboo remains underutilised and structurally constrained,” the report says.
The study points to sharp policy inconsistencies:
Manipur levies a 50% royalty on bamboo transported outside the state.
Mizoram continues to enforce a per-bamboo fee that “strangles MSMEs.”
Meghalaya limits exemptions to only three species, while Autonomous District Councils run separate systems that often clash with state or central norms.
Even in liberalised states like Assam and Tripura, officials frequently demand paper-based origin proofs, undermining digital reforms.
These conflicting frameworks, it warns, “clash with community land ownership traditions and perpetuate the disconnect between local practice and formal regulation.”
The report also recalls how the closure of paper mills and chipping units in Assam and Meghalaya wasted vast bamboo resources and left thousands jobless. In May 2025, illegal bamboo felling in Cachar highlighted persistent governance failures, with enforcement neither protecting ecology nor enabling growth.
To revive the sector, the white paper proposes sweeping structural reforms, including:
Compliance reform: A Bamboo Transit and Exemption Compendium and a “Compliance Burden Reality Index.”
Standards and branding: Food safety norms for bamboo shoots, GI tagging, and carbon credit integration.
Skills and innovation: Establishing a Bamboo Sector Skill Council to train artisans for high-value products and green construction.
Financing models: Blending public funds with CSR, cess, and climate finance to reduce dependence on annual schemes.
The report’s key recommendation is the creation of a statutory Bamboo Development Board or Authority, headquartered in the Northeast, to streamline governance and act as a long-term anchor—similar to the Tea Board or Spices Board of India.
Without bold reforms, the report warns of “mission fatigue” in project-based initiatives. Instead, it urges a hybrid cooperative–industry model—inspired by the Amul framework—to empower bamboo farmers and artisans through professional management and market integration.
“Anchoring bamboo under a statutory board linked to key ministries, financial institutions, and global networks could finally unlock its potential as the Green Gold of the Northeast,” the report concludes, urging policymakers to align the sector’s growth with India’s vision of Viksit Bharat 2037.