The world production of rubber was considered to be very unstable during the last 10 years. Comparatively, India's production of rubber is consistent at the rate of 6% per annum.

Rubber Producing Areas in India
This is divided into two zones – traditional and non-traditional.

Traditional zone	Non-traditional zone
Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu	Coastal regions of Karnataka
Districts of Kerala	Goa
	Andhra Pradesh
	Orissa
	Some areas of Maharashtra
	Northeastern states (mainly Tripura)
	Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Kerala contributes 90% of India’s total production of natural rubber. Also, Kerala and Tamil Nadu together occupies 86% of the growing area of natural rubber.

Rubber Production: India and world

• India is the third largest producer of rubber in the world.
• It is the fourth largest consumer of natural rubber.
• It is the fifth largest consumer of natural rubber and synthetic rubber together in the world.
• India is the world's largest manufacturer of reclaim rubber.
• India and China are the only two countries in the world which have the capacity to consume the entire indigenous production of natural rubber.

Rubber Consumption in India

• Automotive tyre sector: 50% consumption of all kinds of rubbers
• Bicycles tyres and tubes: 15%
• Footwear: 12%
• Belts and hoses: 6%
• Camelback and latex products: 7%
• Other products: 10%

Indian rubber market
India’s production varies between 6 and 7 lakh tons annually which amounts to Rs. 3000 crores. Seventy percent of the total rubber production in India is in the form of Ribbed Smoked Sheets (RSS). This is also imported by India accounting for 45% of the total import of rubber. The Indian rubber industry has a turnover of Rs 12000 crores. Most of the rubber production is consumed by the tyre industry which is almost 52% of the total production of India. Among the states, Kerala is the leading consumer of rubber, followed by Punjab and Maharashtra. The exports of Indian natural rubber have increased tremendously over the years and have reached 76000 tons in 2003-04.

Though, India is one of the leading producers of rubber but it still imports rubber from other countries. At present, India is importing around 50000 tons of rubber annually.

Present Status in India Rubber Industry
There are about 6000 unit comprising 30 large scale, 300 medium scale and around 5600 small scale and tiny sector units. These units are manufacturing more than 35000 rubber products, employing 400 hundred thousand people, which also includes 22000 technically qualified support personnel, contributing Rs. 40 billions to the National Exchequer through taxes, duties and other levies. The Indian Rubber Industry plays a vital role in the Indian national economy. The rubber plantation sector in India produces over 630 hundred thousand tones of natural rubber and there is a projected production of more than one million tones in near future. This has helped in the radical and rapid growth of the Indian rubber industry. This prospect of growth is further enhanced by a boom in the vehicle industry, improved living standards of the people and rapid over-all industrialization. The per capita consumption of rubber in India is only 800 grams compared to 12 to 14 kilos in Japan, USA and Europe. So far as consumption of rubber products is concerned, India is far from attaining any saturation level. This is another factor leading to tremendous growth prospects of the industry in the years to come.