Despite the pandemic, Khadi sales had been in a position to bounce back in the monetary year 2020-21 with 3.6X development from the preceding year. According to the MSME Ministry dashboard information, 2,790 Khadi institutions involving 4.97 lakh artisans reported Rs 3,079.13 crore in sales, up from 2,687 Khadi institutions involving 4.96 lakh artisans reporting sales worth Rs 840.97 crore in FY20. “There were lot of government orders that we had received last year. While during the pandemic there was no sale but we had launched the online sale that supported our growth. Moreover, after khadi outlets were allowed to open last year, aggressive marketing was undertaken and customers had also started accepting local products,” Vinai Kumar Saxena, Chairman, Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) told TheSpuzz Online.
Khadi Sales (FY17-21)
Importantly, FY21 sales was the second highest more than previous 5 years. The annual Khadi sales in FY19 was the highest at Rs 3,215.13 crore just before it plunged to a record low in FY20. KVIC had launched its e-commerce marketplace in the starting of 2021 following operating in beta mode for 4 months. Entering the e-commerce turf dominated by Amazon, Flipkart, and vertical marketplaces such as BigBasket, and Grofers, KVIC had goods listed across categories such as groceries, footwear, apparel, herbal medicines, spices, and more. Overall, the e-commerce portal, introduced in July last year, had registered gross on the web sales worth more than Rs 1.12 crore inside eight months of its operations.
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“We have added more than 527 new Khadi institutions and distributed over 50,000 new charkhas (to artisans) and around 10,000 looms that have added to the production. While the impact of second wave will be there, we will plan on growth once the lockdown lifts. Last year, over 28 lakh masks were sold while each outlet had sold 2,000-3,000 masks daily. Also, the government’s constant appeal to adopt khadi has helped in growth,” Saxena added.
KVIC had last year cracked down on fake khadi goods becoming sold on e-commerce marketplaces such as Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, and other folks as claimed by the commission. According to KVIC, it had forced such marketplaces to take away more than 160 net hyperlinks promoting goods in the brand name of Khadi. KVIC had stated then that it had sent legal notices to more than 1,000 firms utilizing Khadi India brand name to sell fake goods. KVIC had reported 32 lakh digital transactions through FY21, according to MSME Ministry FY21 annual report.