KVIC on fast track to massive sales: Mishra

Union Minister for MSME, Kalraj Mishra on Wednesday said that the Prime Minister's Employment Guarantee Programme (PMEGP)had successfully led to setting up of 3,97,350 micro-enterprises in urban and rural areas, generating 34.96 lakh jobs and Rs 8,150.35 crore in revenue alongside 2016-17 expenditure of Rs 2,114.01 crore against a targeted investment of 1,100 crore.

"We are ensuring that no state is left out in promoting development and sales in the khadi industry, which employs 80 to 90 per cent women in its workforce, and we are also looking at 'reviving' sick units and promoting new ones," the minister said in Mumbai where he announced on the occasion of International Women's Day that DSOs of Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) would offer a special 5 per cent discount from Wednesday for women to celebrate 'women's empowerment.'

The PM's Mann ki Baat had witnessed corporates and PSUs placing bulk orders for khadi products, with sales to ONGC itself amounting to Rs 20.97 crore. Ministry of Health has placed a purchase order for 45 KVIC items worth Rs 150 crores for its hospitals nationwide, he said, adding that KVIC proposed to enhance spinners wages from Rs 5.50 per hank to Rs 7.50 per hank. This will raie the income of Khadi spinners to around Rs 200 per day and will bring them wage-wise on par with minimum wages while simultaneously arresting the exodus of artisans from the Khadi sector.