Andhra Pradesh is one of the seventeen states of India, occupying about 8.5 per cent of the total geographical area of the nation and supporting the same percentage of population and forests. The per capita consumption of paper and paper products in India was 1.5 kg in 1965 and was planned to be raised to 7.0 kg by the end of the sixth five-year plan (1980-81). The expected growth of the pulp and paper industry appears to be much less than the probable future demand will be. This industry has grown slowly because of inadequate profit margins and lack of an assured supply of raw material. Although bamboo is the conventional raw material used for making writing paper in India, it is possible to produce a satisfactory grade of writing paper with a 20:80 mixture of bamboo and hard wood pulp. The provincial government (through its Forest Department) should attract capital and stimulate growth in the pulp and paper industry by offering incentives such as long leases on bamboo forests and tax concessions for improved utilization of land and raw material. The Forest Department also should initiate large scale bamboo plantations to bridge the widening gap between supply and demand. All the budget allotment towards plantations of quick growing species would have to be devoted to bamboo plantations to achieve the provincial targets of the fifth five-year plan in the state of Andhra Pradesh. / Forestry, Faculty of / Graduate