Lack of exposure to Khadi and Village industries: Mishra

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SME Times News Bureau | 23 Jul, 2014
Indian Khadi and Village Industries is a heterogeneous and widely dispersed sector, Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME), Kalraj Mishra said in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

"The challenges of marketing of their products faced by entrepreneurs and institutions are diverse, and while some of them have been successful, many of them face serious problem in establishing themselves in the consumer market," said Mishra.

However, the Government of India through Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has taken a number of steps to explore and develop markets for khadi and village industries (KVI) products in the country. These, inter-alia, include the following:

(i) To provide better marketing opportunities for KVI products in the country, KVIC has a network of more than 7000 KVI outlets including 9 departmental outlets run by it. KVIC organize exhibitions in different parts of the country at district, state, regional and national levels in association with State agencies.

(ii) KVIC also provides assistance under the Scheme of Strengthening Infrastructure of Existing Weak Khadi Institutions and Assistance for Marketing Infrastructure and renovation of marketing outlets.

(iii) Under the Market Development Assistance (MDA) Scheme the institutions have been given the flexibility to use the assistance to, inter-alia, improve its marketing infrastructure.

(iv) The Khadi Reform and Development Programme (KRDP), envisages a marketing organization under PPP mode to promote effective marketing of KVI products.

(v) 'Khadi Mark' has also been introduced to guarantee the genuineness and purity of khadi sold in the market.

(d): KVIC does product advertisement in print and outdoor media including airports and has also developed a portal for small entrepreneurs to showcase their products but there is no provision of free advertisement for small entrepreneurs.

Also a detailed study of khadi sector was assigned to M/s Price waterhouse Coopers (PWC) in the year 2008 by Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) on the basis of concept note prepared by KVIC.

The study report recommended to formulate a scheme to revitalize the KVI sector. Accordingly, Khadi Reforms and Development Programme (KRDP), a comprehensive package for revitalization of the khadi sector, including capacity building of 300 khadi institutions and improved marketing, is being implemented with assistance of USD 150 million from Asian Development Bank (ADB).

In addition, evaluation studies of the existing schemes implemented by KVIC for the development of khadi sector is a continuous process and a mandatory requirement for continuation of the scheme as per the procedure laid down by Planning Commission.

Accordingly, KVIC has conducted evaluation studies through independent agencies for its various schemes for khadi sector like Workshed Scheme for Khadi Artisans, Strengthening Infrastructure of Existing Weak Khadi Institutions and Assistance for Marketing Infrastructure, Scheme for Enhancing Productivity & Competitiveness of Khadi Industry and Artisans, Market Development Assistance and Khadi Karigar Janshree Bima Yojana.

These Evaluation Studies have highlighted the successful implementation of the schemes and have recommended for continuation of these schemes.