Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has appointed ace fashion designer Ritu Beri as its advisor to attract youth and revive the ‘neglected’ sector.
“Khadi was a neglected sector. The centre is working very hard to revive this sector. We have launched various schemes. For example, we are now approaching government departments, private institutions, private companies to adopt Khadi and responses are very encouraging,” KVIC chairman Vinay Kumar Saxena told newsmen in Chandigarh yesterday.
Saxena said, “KVIC has appointed leading fashion designer Ritu Beri as advisor to provide us new designs which will be appealing to youth. If you visit our Delhi outlet only, you will see 50 per cent customers are youths.”
He said the KVIC’s vans are now going to colleges to sell khadi clothing and the results are encouraging. He also described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as khadi’s brand ambassador which is helping the product gain ground.
On pricing, Saxena said a wide range of price tags means khadi is for everybody from commoners to connoisseurs.”Our range starts from Rs 300 to Rs 3,000. But Ritu Beri designed cloth prices are different, we are launching very premium products also.”
Two of India’s largest public sector undertakings, Railways and Air India are also boosting the KVIC’s coffers. Two months ago the Railways placed an order for khadi clothing products worth Rs 40 crore against previous orders of Rs 1 to 2 crores.
“Response from Air India to Khadi was poor earlier, now in the month of January this year, they gave an order of Rs 1.21 crore for supply of amenity kits which they provide to the business class passengers of international flights. Last week, we got another order worth Rs 8 crore from Air India, this is a very good sign,” Saxena added.
