Khadi and village industries to double exports in 3 years

After Union minister for micro, small and medium enterprises Mahabir Prasad announced that khadi will be...

After Union minister for micro, small and medium enterprises Mahabir Prasad announced that khadi will be taken up on a mission mode in January, the latest figures reveal that Rs 17,000 crore Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) is set to double its exports in three years.

In a written reply tabled in the parliament, ministry figures revealed that from Rs 39.07 crore in 2004-05, the exports have gone up 0to Rs 60.12 crores as of January 2008. The total exports by the financial year-end are likely to go higher. “A large number of KVI units are exporting KVI products through merchant exporters and the value of these exports is not reported by them to KVIC, and hence actual value of KVI products exported is expected to be higher,” said Prasad in a written statement. KVIC board had earlier announced its intention of touching an export target of Rs 300 crore by 2010.

The export oriented units under KVIC range from handicrafts, handmade paper products to hand embroidery products. The biggest contribution to exports came from handmade paper-based products that contributed nearly 51 per cent. The demand for these products chiefly comes from Australia, New Zealand, USA, Brazil, Japan, Israel and other European countries.

However, exports still form a miniscule percentage of KVI’s total value of sales at less than one per cent. Due to lack of focussed marketing efforts in international market, KVIC has not been able to market its product globally despite the products being eco-friendly and environment friendly. With a view to ramp up productivity and quality of KVI products in both internal and external market, it launched Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI) in 2006 to be implemented over a period of five years

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