Kudumbashree planning 'Home Shops'

'There are plans to set up a chain of home shops across the state by Kudumbashree', which has 37 lakh members and covers over 50 per cent of households in the state, Panchayat and Social Welfare Minister M K Muneer told reporters here.

Profit was not the motive of the organisation, launched by the government in 1998. During the Onam-Ramzan festival period, Kudumbashree markets achieved a turnover of Rs 26 crore through the sale of its various products, he said.

In the next three years, 20,000 home shops will be set up in the entire state with the aim of selling variety of kudumbashree products including masalas, soaps, flowers by reaching it directly to the door steps of the consumer through the women members.

A pilot project had been started in Thrissur in 2009 and presently six districts were being covered. There were also plans for a land bank project, he said.

As part of the National Rural Livelihood mission (NRLM), a Rs 1,600 scheme had been sanctioned for Kudumbashree of which Rs 58 crore has been received so far, he said.