Khadi is finding growing acceptability among youth, says KVIC Chairman

The clarion call of vocal for local and Atmanirbhar Bharat seems to have worked their magic for Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), which hit the ₹1.15-lakh crore mark in turnover in FY22, a big growth over pre-pandemic levels. In FY20, the sales of the organisation that sells everything from ghee to honey to apparel to shampoos were ₹88,886.65 crore.

In FY22, total sales of KVIC, a statutory body tasked with the development and promotion of khadi and village industries under MSME Ministry, stood at ₹1,15,415.22 crore, up 20.54 per cent compared to ₹95,741.74 crore in FY21. This is nearly a 248 per cent growth compared to FY15.

Trendier products

Vinai Kumar Saxena, Chairman, KVIC, told BusinessLine, the government’s push for “vocal for local”, innovative schemes and creative marketing strategies, besides active support from various ministries, helped the organisation achieve this growth. “The Prime Minister’s campaign of Atmanirbhar Bharat and promotion of khadi has helped KVIC increase its sales. Consumer sentiment has seen a shift as they want to buy swadeshi products.”

Saxena also pointed out that Khadi is finding growing acceptability among youth. “ Khadi no more means just kurta pajama worn by the older generations. Over the years we have been offering trendy and fashionable apparel products keeping in mind the needs of the younger consumers,” he added.

Over 2,000 products by KVIC are sold through about 9,000 outlets and in response to the increasing adoption of online shopping, KVIC also pivoted to set up its own e-commerce platforms in 2020.

Sales growth

The Commission said that sales of the khadi segment (vertical) alone registered a growth of 43.20 per cent to ₹5,052 crore in FY22 from ₹3,528 crore in 2020-21. The lockdown due to the first pandemic wave did impact the khadi segment’s sales declining 16 per cent in FY21 compared to FY20. “We had seen a decline in the khadi segment sales due to the pandemic in FY21 but in FY22 the sales have seen a strong revival and growth,” Saxena added.

Meanwhile, the total sales of village industries segment stood at ₹1,10,364 crore in FY22, up 19.68 per cent over the previous fiscal year.

Asked about profitability, Saxena said, “Profits for us is creation of jobs and man hours for our artisans.” 

Last month,  KVIC had said that 1.03 lakh new manufacturing and services units were established in FY22 under Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Program generating 8.25 lakh jobs.  ( KVIC disbursed a margin money subsidy of ₹2,978 crore for establishment of these units while the bank credit flow was nearly ₹9,000 crore.)