Bamboo is an important agro-forestry resource in the Indian socio-economic-cultural-ecological-climatic-functional context. It is a fast growing, wide spread, renewable, versatile, low-or-no cost, environment-enhancing resource with potential to offer livelihood security, economic security, food security & ecological security in the years to come, in both rural and urban areas. Apart from its traditional uses, bamboo has very many possible new applications as an alternative to rapidly depleting wood resource and as more expensive materials.      

Realizing the above, in the year 1989, Late Sri. N. S. Adkoli, IFS (Retd) (Bhishma Pithamaha of Bamboo) has pioneered to start this BSI with the socially awakened foresters saw a huge potential in bamboo – as a future crop & industrial resource – that could help bring ‘Socially & Ecologically Sustainable Industrial Economy” and further foresaw that unless all stakeholders like foresters, social thinkers, activists, product designers, entrepreneurs, architects, technocrats, researchers, experts, farmers, artisans, students etc and people from cross sections of the society come together on one platform and put coordinated efforts, the all-inclusive and purpose cannot be fulfilled. The Bamboo Society of India has come into being, much before INBAR, NBM, NMBA etc and set forth aims & objects to serve bamboo sector & society at large by registering under Karnataka Societies Registration Act, 1960 and Rules thereunder.