For a long time rubber wood was being considered fit only for burning. However, in India, where wood has been in short supply, it is finding better uses. Its susceptibility to insect and fungal attack limits its wider use. The wood can be protected from insects and fungi by treating it with preservative chemicals. The are the pressure method and non-pressure method of treatment (viz., the diffusion method and the chemical impregnation under vacuum and pressure respectively). The second method is also known as the ASCU method. Fourteen units have the facility for vacuum and pressure impregnation. Non-pressure mehtod of treatment is follwed by a large number of units particularly by the small scale plywood manufacturing units. In the early 60's rubber wood began to be used extensively for packing cases, as the country has a large manufacturing sector. Traditionally rubber is grown in the Southern States of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka with a concentration in Kerala. A systematic replantation which boosted the production of rubber wood was started in the late 50's. This gave sufficient quantities of rubber wood for consumption. In India, rubber wood has never been wasted, although, India has been late in introducing treated rubber wood. The first treated rubber wood factory came to the scene in the early 70's when a plant was established in the central part of Kerala State to produce rubber wood for manufacturing pallets, packing cases etc. Although the ASCU method of treatment of wood is associated with the name of the Indian scientist Dr.Kamesan, the idea of treating rubber wood was not implemented before 70's. In the next decade two more units came into existence. By the early 80's there were four units treating rubber wood systematically. With the depletion of forest resources and the banning of clear felling by the Governments, there began to appear scarcity for all types of wood. In the 1980's this has been very critica. As a result treated rubber wood became a viable substitute. More people took up the production of treated rubber wood and by the end of 1991, there were 14 recognized units producing treated rubber wood. Of these, 3 units belonged to the large sector. Two of them availed improved technical know how. The statistics indicate that 15.5 million cft (0.44m.m3) of rubber wood has been used in the packing case industry. Most of this is non-treated rubber wood as the raw material of packing cases is to be in use for not more than one year. Another 4 million cft(0.12m.m3) of rubber wood is being used for manufacturing safety matches (both splints and veneers). Although the final conversion of splints into safety matches is made in Tamil Nadu, most of the wood required by the industry is supplied by the State of Kerala. In addition to this about 3 million cft (0.08m.m3) is used in the plywood industry as well. An estimated one million cft (0.03m.m3) is converted into good quality wood by the rubber wood based units with ASCU treatment facilities. The estimated production of rubber wood in the country is around 45 million cft (1.27 m.m3). Of this about 60 per cent is stem wood and the rest is branch wood. The branch wood is almost exclusively used as firewood in households, in tile factories and other industrial units where heating is required. Research is being carried out to utilise rubber wood in the sphere of paper making. Experiments in this regard are reported to have suceeded but commercial use on an extensive scale is yet to be made. Some quantity of rubber wood is used for manufacturing polymer composite. A factory has been existing in Kerala since the early eightees to convert rubber wood into rubber wood polymer composite. A monomer is impregnated in liquid form into the rubber wood and irradiated in a radiation chamber. The technology is available in India. A compressed rubber wood manufacturing unit is also in operation in South India. The compressed blocks are converted into various articles like textile shuttles, bobbins etc. A few units also use rubber wood for particle board. Rubber wood saw dust finds use in one of them. Technology is available in India for manufacturing briquet from rubber wood saw dust and one entrepreneur is in the process of setting up a factory. Rubber wood after treatment can be used for building materials. A number of factories manufacturing such items as doors, windows, parquet flooring, railings, panelling material and other products from treated rubber wood have come up. The price of treated rubber wood has been on the increase. The current selling price for good quality treated rubber wood ranges from Rs. 180 to Rs. 250 per cft in the country. However, export price of products is much higher. The rubber wood polymer composite is being sold at around Rs. 500 per cft. The raw material price also has increased in the last five years. Sawn planks of rubber wood used to be sold at around Rs. 15.00 per cft in 1985-86 in Kerala. The current price range is between Rs. 25 to 30 per cft in Kerala. Good quality rubber wood (for peeling into veneers) has to be given a little higher price in the producing centres. However, rubber wood producers do not get the full price. An average of around Rs. 15 per cft is obtained by them. The most important markets for rubber wood are in Bombay, Madras, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Madurai and Coimbatore. Because of the distance to northern states, Delhi, Chandigarh etc are yet to come into the picture. Some quantities of rubber wood are being sent to Calcutta also. There is an assured future for rubber wood based industry in India. There are certain factories which are engaged in export also. One factory set up in the Cochin Export Processing Zone has already started exporting treated rubber wood. An awareness on the subject has been created as a result of the activities of the Rubber Research Institute of India. In 1989 the Institute organised the first National Seminar on Rubber Wood and published a book entitled `Rubber Wood'. These efforts have been able to dispel the little prejudice against rubber wood and reports from the manufacturers show that they get substantial orders for treated rubber wood. Recently an Indian company placed an order worth a few million rupees for treated rubber wood to furnish their office buildings coming up in Hyderabad and Bombay. As a result of the efforts of the RRII, the Bureau of Indian Standards has included rubber wood in the standard prescribed for doors and windows.