KVIC set for revamp and expansion

Mumbai, Aug 1: The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) known for its humane face in uplifting the poor and hapless in rural India is finally set for a major revamp and expansion after the Commission's recent reconstitution by the Union government.

Revealing this here, KVIC Chairman Kumud Joshi said that major intiatives are on its way to revamp the age old cottage industry and to infuse profitability into the marketing and sale strategies of Khadi products in the open market.

KVIC, a statutory body created by an Act of Parliament in 1956 began to function in the year 1957 and got amended in 1987. St visions broad objectives such as providing employment, creating self-reliance, building up of a strong rural community spirit and several other objectives.

Speaking on the occassion, Chairperson lamented that the reconstituted body comprised eminent professionals from diverse fields to make the Khadi and Village Industry (KVI) a success in all ways.

She said several new initiatives are in the pipeline to revamp the marketing, designing and sale strategy of KVI products, which would be undertaken in association with the 'Indian Institute of Packaging', Mumbai.

Joshi admitted that though Khadi production has increased, its profitability margin through sales has considerably decreased. As a result, the Commission has decided to hire services of designers to promote the use of Khadi among the younger generation.

For the same reason, KVIC has entered into a tie-up with institutions like the National Institute of Design (NID) Ahmedabad and National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) to give design inputs through their trained designers to various Khadi institutions.

Similarly, the other interesting step of the Commission is to increase industrialisation in villages and encourage self-reliance, which would indirectly put brakes on the rising influx of migrants into cities from villages.

Joshi asserted that the fundamental principles of the Khadi industry and its founding fathers would be kept intact by the Commission in its revamp and implementation process of various changes.

The entire process to revamp KVI is to give priority benefits and advantages to the people below poverty line through a healthy process of productivity and sales, Joshi opined.

The KVI programmes are implemented all over the country in association with State Khadi and Village Industries Boards in all the states. KVIC has 5,000 registered societies and over two lakh entrepreneurial units with a strong marketing network of over 7,000 sales outlets all over the country.

Commenting on the new changes KVIC's Committe member Ramdas Sharma from Rajasthan said that around 60 lakh people across the country are directly involved with KVI for their livelihood and KVI itself generates Rs 13,500 crore as turnover from different arms of its productivity and sales. He added that Acts related to the Commission has been amended and the body is decentralised in several aspects. As a result people with technical, finance and other backgrounds are also on board of the Commission to give it a better direction for the times ahead.

KVIC's Expert Member (Marketing) Madhu Jain opined that new ways are being probed to improve export markets as well as quality of the product without compromising the production costs.

She stated present situation of KVI is being studied to initiate capacity building and commitment towards quality. In addition, market research is also being undertaken to study consumer behaviour and products would be developed according to the needs of the market.

KVIC's Chief Executive Officer C Chandran reminded that Union government has fulfilled its promise of a reconstituted KVIC and added that the main thrust of the Commission is to set in motion the reviving of traditional industries across the country on a priority basis.

He informed that the Golden Jubilee celebrations of KVIC and KVI would begin from September 24 this year and will end on September 23 next year.

As a part of jubilee celebrations old Charkas and looms would be replaced and repaired according to the needs to people make self-dependent.

KVIC's Financial Advisor Maya Sinha stated that Government of India allocates Rs 700 crore for the development and upliftment of KVI. Whereas banks play a significant role as a major partner with KVIC to supplement the rest of the resources.

She informed that Union government has launched a new scheme 'Sfurti'(a cluster development programme) for the regeneration of traditional industries and the Ministry of Agro and Rural industries has been assigned the responsibility for implementing the scheme in the current year.

KVIC with its wide network and presence in the rural areas would play a major role in implementing the scheme. The scheme broadly aims for cluster development of Khadi, Coir, Village industries including Leather and Pottery, through inputs of a Common facility centre, production development and design intervention, market promotion, capacity building, survey and studies and expert consultancy.

UNI