Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has a wide network of 8 Departmental Sales Outlets ‘Khadi India’ with its 18 branches and 8035 Khadi Sales Outlets of Khadi Institutions (KIs) and plays a major role in creating a network between the rural artisans producing Khadi and Village Industries (KVI) products and the consumers living in urban areas.  In addition, KVIC has taken the following steps for promotion of KVI products to counter foreign goods:

1. Launched an official e-commerce portal ‘khadiindia.gov.in’ exclusively to sell KVI products, where only listed KIs are allowed to sell Khadi products.
2. Obtained trade mark registration for the wordmark ‘KHADI’ and the ‘Khadi India’ logos in India, under most of the classes, including classes-24 & 25 (textiles and textiles products).
3. Popularizing KVI products by organizing exhibitions at various levels to make them accessible in the domestic and international markets.
4. US-based world’s leading fashion brand, Patagonia, is now using handcrafted Khadi Denim fabric for making Denim apparels. Patagonia, through Arvind Mills, has purchased Khadi Denim Fabric.
5. Centre of Excellence (CoE) has been established for providing design intervention, product development and increasing marketability of Khadi products.
6. KVIC arranged supply/marketing mechanism of KVI products including specialized in heritage and indigenous art and craft, through e-Market linkage for MSMEs - GeM portal (gem.gov.in), dedicated online portal (kviconline.gov.in) and accredited e-marketing portal (www.ekhadiindia.com).
7. Exclusive Khadi Lounges have been opened at Kevadia (Gujarat) and at the airports in New Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bhopal and Goa to showcase the KVI products for national and international tourists.
8. KVIC has taken the services of fashion designers for promotion of KVI products.

The following measures have been taken to safeguard and preserve the brands of KVI products:

1. Khadi Trademark Registration for safeguarding interests of Khadi brands and boosting the sale of Khadi products.
2. KVIC has removed the unauthorized entities which are selling KVI products from e-commerce sites and social media platforms.
3. Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Govt. of India conveyed the allocation of separate HS Code for 11 numbers of Khadi products so that the brand is protected and the international trades of our heritage products are tracked.
4. Notification has been issued to all Central Govt. Ministries, Departments and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) to procure minimum 25% of their annual value of goods and services from these Micro & Small Enterprises (MSEs) registered with District Industries Centres (DICs)/ KVIC/ State Khadi and Village Industries Boards (KVIBs)/ Coir Board/ National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC)/ Directorate of Handicraft and Handloom/ any other body specified by Ministry of MSME.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises, Shri Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

MJPS