The production and sales of khadi, a handwoven cloth, have grown during the last three years.
In 2011-12, 887.32 lakh square metres of khadi cloth was produced, generating sales value of Rs 967.87 crore, with cumulative employment of 10.45 lakh persons. In 2012-13, production increased to 909.85 lakh square metres, sales value of Rs 1,021.56 crore, and employment of 10.71 lakh persons. These figures further increased in 2013-14 to 932.51 square metres of cloth, Rs 1,081.04 crore in sales turnover and employment of 10.98 lakh people.
This information was given by Giriraj Singh, Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha (upper house) during the ongoing session of Parliament.
Readymade garments is one of the main items exported under khadi, the Minister said. In 2011-12, Rs 7.82 lakh of garments were exported, with Oman being the main destination. In 2012-13, Rs 32.50 lakh worth of khadi apparel were exported, with Malaysia and Singapore being the main supply destinations. In 2013-14, this amount stood at Rs 20.15 lakh, with main export destinations being Kuwait, Oman, Canada, and the UK.
The MSME Ministry has been implementing various schemes/programmes for the development of khadi through Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC).
Further, in order to boost the export of khadi products, the Government has given deemed ‘Export Promotion Council’ status to KVIC, under which the KVIC has already enlisted more than 900 exporters. There is a provision of providing incentive in the form of 5 per cent FOB value of direct export of khadi products. Besides, KVIC has also been focusing on quality participation in international ehibitions and buyer-seller meets (BSM) abroad to tap new/emerging markets for khadi products.
Answering a separate question, Singh said KVIC has developed e-charkha, which has a dynamo and portable storage battery. While plying the charkha, the battery is energized to supply power of 4 watt which is used to light a LED lamp, listening transistor and charging of cell-phone. So far, 1464 e-charkhas have been supplied to the khadi institutions. However, these e-charkas were not favourably accepted by khadi institutions as it increases workload in spinning due to the attached dynamo. (RKS)
