NEW DELHI: If figures matter, the signature fabric of India seems paving way every year for the country’s economic transformation. In the FY 2017-18, the sale of Khadi which includes solar and poly vastra has grown to Rs 2,503 crore, i.e. 25 percent up with respect to Rs 2,007 crore in FY 2016-17. After the PM’s appeal to push Khadi for betterment of rural artisans, few historical achievements have taken place in the Khadi industries.
Incredibly, the total average sale, which was Rs 914.07 crore during the year 2004 to 2014, jumped to Rs 1,828.30 crore in three years between 2015 -18, with over 100 per cent increase. And, with the average Khadi sale of Rs 120.09 crore by Departmental Sales Outlets (DSOs) during 2015-18, a growth of 168.24 per cent has been recorded with respect to Rs 44.77 crore in the 2004-14 decade. Similarly, as many as 375 new Khadi institutions were established after 2015 in some two years, whereas the number of Khadi institutions established between 2004 and 2014 was 110.
So far, ‘Khadi Yoga Kits’ worth Rs 3.41 crore had been sold out in the post-2015 period. The average export of Khadi and village industries products was mere Rs 87.77 crore between 2004 and 2014. But, the moment the government started considering it as a mean of economic transformation, it grew at a rocketing pace: From 2015 to February 2018, the average export of Khadi and village industries products went to Rs 2,014.75 crore with a huge growth of 133.28 per cent.