The Coir Board

Coir is the tough fibre inside a coconut husk. People spin it into yarn. They also make mats, ropes and brushes from it.

Why does it need a board?

• Most coir work is small and spread over many homes and units.
• Single workers cannot find export buyers or new machines alone.
• A national body can offer research, training and market help.

What is the Coir Board?

• The Coir Board is a statutory body. A law created it.
• It was set up under the Coir Industry Act, 1953.
• It promotes and develops the coir industry.

What is the memory hook?

Think “one fibre, one board, one Act”. The law is the Coir Industry Act.

Parliament passed the Act as Act 45 of 1953. It lets the Central Government create the Board.

What are the key points?

• Section 4: the Central Government constitutes the Coir Board.
• The Government sets the Board’s start date by a notice in the Official Gazette.
• The Board was set up in 1954.
• The Board is a body corporate. It can own property and sue or be sued.
• The Central Government appoints the Chairman and up to forty other members.

What is the memory hook?

Think “Section 4 builds it”. Section 4 creates the Board.

Section 10 sets the main duty. The Board must promote the development of the coir industry. It may use any measures it thinks fit.

What are its jobs?

• Promote exports of coir yarn and coir products.
• Support research.
• Collect statistics.
• Set grade standards for coir goods.
• Improve marketing.
• Help producers earn fair returns.

Does it run only trade programmes?

No. It also trains and supports workers. Many of them are women who spin yarn at home.

What is the memory hook?

Think “R-S-M”: research, standards and marketing. Exports sit on top of all three.

The name “Coir Board” does not show its ministry. You must remember it.

What is the ministry?

• The Board is a statutory body under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME).
• The Ministry of MSME’s own scheme paper says the Coir Board works under it.
• It is not under the Ministry of Heavy Industries.

Where are the offices?

• The head office is at Kochi, Kerala.
• Its twin research institutes are at Kalavoor in Kerala and at Bangalore.
• The Central Coir Research Institute is at Kalavoor.
• The Central Institute of Coir Technology is in Bangalore.
• The Board also works through regional and sub-regional offices.

What is the memory hook?

Think “small units, small ministry”. Coir work is small scale, so MSME fits.

The Coir Vikas Yojana (CVY) is the Board’s umbrella scheme. It gathers many small schemes under one name.

What does it cover?

• Science and technology work.
• The Coir Industry Technology Upgradation Scheme (CITUS).
• Skill upgradation and the Mahila Coir Yojana for women.
• Export market promotion and domestic market promotion.
• Trade and industry related functional support services.
• Welfare cover through the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana.

Who runs it?

The Coir Board at Kochi is the nodal agency for CITUS. It works through its regional offices. Coir units must be registered with the Board to apply.

Does the scheme have a fixed number of parts?

The list of parts has changed between years. Do not memorise a count. Remember the Mahila Coir Yojana for women.

What is the memory hook?

Think “CVY is the umbrella”. The Coir Board holds it up.

Coir exports swing from year to year. Quote them only with a year and a source.

What do the numbers show?

• The International Coconut Community reports India’s coir exports at about US$612.5 million in calendar 2025.
• That was up from about US$358.4 million in 2024.
• Coir pith drove most of the rise.
• In 2019-20 India exported 9,88,996 tonnes of coir and coir products. The Government called it an all-time high at that time.

Why do the figures differ?

Some sources use calendar years. Others use April-to-March years. Do not compare them directly.

What is the memory hook?

Think “year first, number second”. Always state the year.

UPSC asked about the Coir Board in 2025. Learn the correct pairs.

What has UPSC asked?

The key is option (d). All three pairs are wrong. View the 2025 paper.

What are the traps?

• Which ministry? The Coir Board is under MSME, not Heavy Industries.
• Which year? The Act is of 1953. The Board began in 1954.
• Which place? The head office is at Kochi, not Delhi.
• Which scheme? The umbrella scheme is the Coir Vikas Yojana.