Revived 143 defunct Khadi units using MSME grants: KVIC

KVIC today said it has revived as many as 143 defunct Khadi units using grants from the Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) since April 2014, and steps are afoot to start production at 124 more units.
KVIC Chairman V K Saxena said the organisation is taking "pro-active" steps to revive defunct Khadi institutions, which have closed due to low wages, lack of funds for replacement of Charkhas and Looms and inadequate marketing support.
He also said that till 2011, a total of 267 Khadi institutions were closed down.
"KVIC, from the grants received from the MSME has tried to strengthen and revive these institutions. It has released total of Rs 7.23 crore (since 20140-15) to 143 institutions, for replacement of old Charkhas and Looms and to revive production," he said in a statement.

Saxena further said plans are afoot to revive remaining 124 institutions in a phased manner.
He also said 89 and 63 new Khadi institutions were registered in 2015-16 and 2016-17, respectively and have started production.
On October 2, KVIC had launched 'Khadi Institutions Registration and Certification Sewa' (KIRCS), an online portal for registration of new Khadi institutions.
"Due to this online registration sewa initiatives, since October 2, 2016 to January 20, 2017, 143 new institutions have applied for registration of Khadi certification and production...," Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) said.