ISBN: - 978-93-88936-09-5 materials. 2.8 (B) CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INDIAN RUBBER INDUSTRY The following are the special characteristics of the rubber industry in India which make India little different from many of the other natural rubber producing countries. India is a major producer and consumer of natural rubber. The rubber products manufacturing industry in India has been mostly inward oriented, catering to the domestic market. In recent years India has entered the global market, exporting both raw natural rubber as well as rubber products With its large population base, India is emerging as a large market for rubber products and with the opening up of the economy, and import of rubber products has also been increasing in recent years. The rubber product mix in India is based mostly on dry forms of rubber, dictated by the requirements of the domestic market. 2.8(C) MANUFACTURING PROCESS IN RUBBER INDUSTRY The Manufacture of rubber products generally involves the following three important steps: • Mixing of the rubber with certain chemical ingredients in the correct proportion and manner to form a rubber compound. • Providing appropriate shape to the compound similar to the product being manufactured. The shaped compound is called blank. • curing of the blank under correct temperature and pressure for a fixed time to get the product. • Large quantities of water are required during processing of rubber (mainly for washing, churning and dilution). 2.8(D) MACHINERY MANUFACTURING Machinery manufacturing is an important sector of the Indian rubber industry. This sector had a humble start in the 1950s and it gradually developed into a position to cater to almost all the requirements of the domestic industry. The growth of this sector has contributed substantially to the faster development of the NR processing and product manufacturing sectors. 2.8(F) RUBBER CHEMICALS 57
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