There has been a massive surge in the sale of products of Khadi and Village Industries Commission which achieved its highest-ever turnover of Rs 88,887 crore in 2019-20. The turnover of Khadi registered a growth of 31 per cent from Rs 3215.13 crore in 2018-19, to Rs 4211.26 crore in 2019-20.
"The turnover of Village Industries products reached to Rs 84,675.39 crore in 2019-20, registering a growth of over 19 per cent from the previous year, i.e. 2018-19, which was at Rs 71,077 crore," the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) stated.
KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena saidhe was expecting higher results, but several exhibitions planned in the months of February and March were cancelled, and the year-end clearance sale could not take place.
"As a result of Government''s sustained efforts to revive the Khadi industry and the Prime Minister''s repeated appeals from various platforms including his radio address ''Mann ki Baat'', to adopt Khadi as a necessity of daily life, the KVIC has been continuously going up the growth trajectory," he said.
While the production of khadi, the most eco-friendly product of sustainable development, has more than doubled in the last five years (since 2015-16), the sales have gone up by nearly three times during the same period, KVIC said.
Similarly, the village industry sector has also seen phenomenal growth, with production and sales going up by nearly 100 per cent in the last five years, it added.
Khadi production since 2015-16 has grown at the average of 19.45 per cent per annum, which was merely 6.25 per cent during the previous government from 2004 to 2014, KVIC said.
Similarly, khadi''s sale grew exponentially at the annual rate of 27.6 per cent, which remained as low as 6.65 per cent from 2004-2014.
According to figures, the production of khadi which was pegged at Rs 1,066 crore in 2015-16, shot up to Rs 2,292.44 crore in the year 2019-20, registering an increase of over 115 per cent.
The sale of khadi fabric products increased by 179 per cent from Rs 1,510 crore in 2015 -16 to a whopping Rs 4,211.26 crore in 2019-20.
While village industries products worth Rs 33,425 crore were produced in 2015-16; production went up by 96 per cent to Rs 65,393.40 crore in 2019-20.