On the eve of the first ever ‘UP Investors Summit’, the Khadi and Village Industries Board and global E commerce giant Amazon India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Tuesday to promote Khadi apparel manufactured in the state under the brand of ‘UP Khadi’ over its online marketplace.
As per the MOU, Team Amazon would educate and train khadi artisans to directly sell their products to online customers. The online portfolio would include products such as Khadi shirts, kurtas, dhotis, towels and gourmet food which have huge potential and demand in urban areas.
The agreement was signed by Khadi minister Satyadeo Pachauri and Director and General Manager of Amazon India, Gopal Pillai. “We would deploy our team to train Khadi artisans associated with units that are onboard with us,” Pillai said.
He claimed there was rising demand for khadi products globally and it was becoming the fabric of choice for the people, especially youth.
Pillai further said, “Since UP is famous for distinct traditional industries across its 75 districts, the company would be willing to consider other such products as well in the league of ‘UP Khadi’ if there was adequate demand apart from commensurate state government push.”
Khadi and Village Industry minister Satya Dev Pachauri said that it was Mahatma Gandhi’s dream to popularise Khadi and it would be now done by Amazon.
“Khadi will now go to jan-jan with this initiative and it is a milestone for Khadi artisans in the state,” he said while announcing that soon a Khadi Plaza would come up in lucknow. The minister also announced that to provide technical enhancement to artisans, the state government will introduce ‘Solar Charkhas’ through which production efficiency would go up by three times.
Meanwhile, Principal Secretary of Khadi and Village Industries Navneet Sehgal said that the tie-up with Amazon offered a big platform to khadi products and would benefit manufacturing units and artisans. “The MoU would fetch remunerative returns to these units and do away with middlemen,” he said.
So far, seven UP Khadi organisations are onboard and 40 are in the pipeline.
Earlier, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had stressed khadi to ride the online bandwagon for growth and youth appeal. He even directed officials to develop a portal for marketing of khadi products and boosting entrepreneurship for creating jobs by stronglu brand it.
Besides, the state is also considering creating a comprehensive database/repository comprising a gamut of food and non-food products of the state. The government is seeking private investment in khadi space, apart from ensuring that resources and infrastructure were optimally utilised.
UP is also promoting Khadi under its flagship ‘One District, One Product’ scheme which aims at nurturing district specific traditional industries and handicrafts.
In fact, the state government has adopted Gujarat Model to boost khadi based manufacturing and marketing. Khadi is expected to boost bottom of pyramid manufacturing and creating fresh job opportunities. last year, the Yogi cabinet increased subsidy on the sale of khadi products from 10% to 15% which were manufactured in the state. The subsidy, to be reimbursed through direct benefit transfer, would be equally divided between the weavers/spinners, manufacturer, vend marketer.