The introduction and establishment of rubber tree and the development of rubber plantation industry in India is one of the most remarkable success stories in the Indian plantation sector. Hevea brasiliensis, indigenous to the tropical Amazon rain forests was introduced to South East Asia by the British, who succeeded in transporting Hevea seeds from Bazil to Kew Botanical gardens in England with the objective of planting in the then British India. However, after the initial unsuccessful attempts, rubber was reintroduced from the Royal Botanic Garden, Ceylon during 1878-1887 and rubber cultivation in an organized scale was initiated in Kerala (Travancore) in 1902. Though initially the Indian rubber plantations industry was controlled by British companies, progressive Indian farmers had observed the advantages of rubber as a commercially viable crop, that by the first half of the century, three fourth of the rubber area was under the native ownership. The Government of India through the constitution of Rubber Board in 1947 provided institutional support for the rubber plantation industry. The challenges before the Board were enhancement in production and productivity through R & D, ensuring remunerative returns to growers and quality enhancement of the product. The systematic research on natural rubber (NR) started in 1955 with the establishment of the Rubber Research Institute of India (RRII). The broad research priorities viz., improvement in production and productivity, reduction in cost of production, achievement in quality competitiveness, supporting extension of rubber cultivation in non-traditional rubber growing areas through research back up, investigations on post harvest technology, product development and marketing were achieved over the years. The most outstanding contribution of RRII towards enhancement of production and productivity is the developments of the high yielding clone RRII 105, which has substantially contributed to the viability of NR cultivation in the traditional rubber growing regions of India. The newly bred RRII 400 series clones (of which 5 are in the planting recommendation currently) are expected to further enhance the average productivity significantly. RRII has introduced about 5000 wild accessions resultant of the International Rubber Research and Development Board (IRRDB) expedition in the Amazon valley for broadening the original narrow gene pool and bringing in further genetic advancement in the crop. Efforts to produce tissue culture derived plants for commercial cultivation has registered significant success and the micro propagated plants are under field evaluation. Appropriate agro technology has been evolved for rubber cultivation under sub optimal conditions prevailing in the non-traditional areas. Along with the significant strides made in yield increase, integrated approaches to reduce cost of production and improve quality of the product has resulted in the development of a functional system of Discriminatory Fertilizer Recommendation (DFR) based on soil and leaf analysis, effective plant protection schedules for major diseases and pests, suitable latex harvesting systems and approperiate processing technology for latex and dry rubber. Thus, over the past few decades rubber plantation industry grew up so fast that now India is the fourth largest producer, fifth in area under rubber cultivation and first in the productivity in natural rubber (NR) among all the natural rubber growing countries in the world. India now produces 711650 tones of NR from an area of 5,73,000 hectares with the highest productivity of 1663 kg/ha. Rubber plantations are a source of livelihood to many of the rubber growers as 86;of them are small growers. NR plantation is a self-sustainable ecossytem. which is a renewable non-polluting and environment friendly source of elastomer in contrast to synthetic rubber manufactured from depletable petroleum resources. NR has contributed significantly to the socio-economic development of the people where it is grown in our country. The crop has a very strong future in India, considering the ever-increasing consumption of NR in various rubber-based industries especially the automibile sector besides its uniqueness as a natural eco friendly product.