Khadi sales jump 4-fold in FY18; KVIC to run 'Khadi Express' train to boost sales

State-run Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has said the sale of Khadi products rose over three-fold in the last three fiscals and 'Khadi Express' train will be run to create awareness about the segment.

According to KVIC, the Khadi turnover was Rs 811 crore in 2014-15 and it increased to Rs 2,509 crore in 2017-18.

"We have written a letter to Indian Raiways for running a Khadi Express train which would exhibit Khadi products linked with Mahatama Gandhi in view of his 150th birth anniversary," KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena told PTI BHASHA.

The five-bogie Khadi Express train would also have the facility to sell the Khadi products to people and will run through all those places in the country where Mahatama Gandhi had stayed. The train will be stationed at those stations for one day.

The demand of Khadi products has increased as Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself appealed to the people of the country to buy these clothes, he said.

Saxena said the sale of Khadi products grew at an average rate of 6.68 per cent per annum during 2004 to 2014, but it grew at the rate of 37 per cent in the last four years.

The number of sales outlets for Khadi products has been increased to 1,060 in the last four years, he said adding exhibitions were organised in 50 countries on October 2 to create demand for such products.