Lack of Exposure to Khadi and Village Industries

Khadi and Village Industries is a heterogeneous and widely dispersed sector. 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. 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. This information was given by the Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Shri Kalraj Mishra in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha here today.