On Monday, January 2, Congress senior leader Rahul Gandhi shared snippets of his interview with actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan, where the two discussed a range of issues, including films, politics, Chinese aggression, cinema, and the humble Khadi.
‘Hey Ram’, Khadi, Films and how only India, not the West, can take on China!
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) January 2, 2023
My conversation with @ikamalhaasan on what shapes Indian politics and culture.https://t.co/RiUNzGdE1k pic.twitter.com/lWUtiTd2xx
During the chat, which the Congress MP also uploaded on YouTube, Rahul Gandhi expressed his desire to revitalise India’s ‘dying’ Khadi industry. Only if the senior Congress leader knew that the industry had registered a turnover of 1.15 lakh crore in 2021-22.
During the course of the discussion, Rahul Gandhi, around 16 minutes into the chat, bemoaned how, as a result of demonetisation and a ‘wrongly administered’ GST by the BJP government, many Indian sectors have gradually perished, like the Ballari jeans industry and the Indian Khadi industry.
Rahul Gandhi pointed out a Khadi jacket that Kamal Haasan was sporting and claimed that no one in India would recognise it as a Khadi jacket because the industry has been dying a slow death under the Modi regime.
Contrary to Rahul Gandhi’s statements, Khadi sales in India increased 43% to a record high of Rs 5,052 crore during the last fiscal year, making it larger than most textile enterprises in the country.
According to a statement by the ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), last year, the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) clocked a turnover of Rs 1.15 lakh crore in 2021-22. The turnover made KVIC the only company in the country to have recorded a turnover of Rs 1 lakh crore.
Looking at the performance in the last one year, the biggest impact can be seen in the Khadi sector which has registered a growth of 43.20% from ₹3528 crores in 2020-21 to ₹5052 crores in 2021-22. In the last eight years, the production in the Khadi sector increased by 191%, while the sales have increased exponentially by 332% as per the data from MSME ministry.
This massive turnover of KVIC has come despite a partial lockdown in the country in April-June 2021, due to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
KVIC Chairman, Shri Vinai Kumar Saxena, attributed Khadi’s phenomenal growth to the constant support of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to promote Khadi in the country. At the same time, innovative schemes, creative marketing ideas, and active support from various ministries have also added to Khadi’s growth in recent years.
“Prime Minister’s repeated appeals to achieve self-reliance by promoting “Swadeshi” and particularly “Khadi” has done wonders. Today Khadi stands far ahead of all FMCG companies in the country. By employing new scientific methods and diversifying Khadi’s product range, KVIC has succeeded in achieving such massive growth which no other FMCG company can match,” Saxena said.
It may be recalled that in the 81st episode of ‘Mann Ki Baat‘ last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a record-breaking sale of Khadi on October 2. He said that Khadi was made the identity of freedom by Mahatma Gandhi. He further urged people to buy Khadi products from local markets, promoting the ‘Vocal For Local’ initiative.
PM Modi recalled how Khadi sales had increased exponentially in recent years. He pointed out the fact that Delhi’s Khadi India store made sales worth Rs.1 crore in 2020 in a single day on October 2. Notably, the same store repeated such high sales three more times since then.
