India has vast growth of bamboo across its geography, and is among the top producers of bamboo in the world.  Bamboo craft communities are present in almost all parts of the country, especially in the North-East and the Southern regions.  Western and Central India also have a veritable variety of bamboo. Bamboo communities are majorly involved in weaving, furniture / product making and trading of ready products as well as bamboo as raw material.  But the communities face several problems in pursuit of this trade.  Few of the problems are – lack of new design inputs, ergonomic considerations and other modern features as required in the contemporary furniture market.  Apart from this the artisans are unaware of new technology and methods of treatment of bamboo for protection against insects/fungus etc. and also natural dyeing methods.