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KVIC resolves to hardsell Bharat's products in India

The Khadi and Village Industry Commission has decided to hardsell Bharat's products in India.

Handmade paper, soaps and honey produced by the commission will soon be available under brand names, its chairman Mahesh Sharma said in New Delhi on Friday.

The growing ''brand consciousness'' among consumers had prompted the KVIC to market these products better, Sharma said.

The KVIC is also participating in a big way in the Swadeshi Mela in New Delhi from January 25 to 30. ''We see this as a big marketing opportunity and would like to make the most of it,'' Sharma said.

Besides fine handloom products like the Dacca muslin, the Bengali baluchari, Gujarati patola and Tamil Nadu's kanjivaram silk sarees and dress material, other village industry products like pottery, leather shoes and bags, wood carvings and cane and bamboo artefacts would be on display at the KVIC stall.

''The consumers have a certain confidence in the quality and standard of products bought from khadi outlets. We would capitalise on this and promote our products under easily identifiable brand-names,'' he added.

Apart from better product promotion, the KVIC took several other steps last year for promotion of khadi products. These include holding of special exhibitions on university campuses, essay competitions and groups discussions on importance of eco-friendly products and institution of three national awards for an organisation, a state board and an individual promoting khadi products, Sharma said.

The national awards for this year would be given away in April during a national convention on rural industrialisation. While the award of Rs 150,000 to an organisation would be given to Kshetriya Shri Gandhi Ashram of Amritsar, the second award of Rs 150,000 would be given to the Uttar Pradesh Khadi Gramodhyog Mandal.

The lifetime achievement award of Rs 100,000 would be given posthumously to Ekambarnath for devising and promoting the multi-spindle charkha (cotton yarn spinning wheel). Another honorary award for lifetime achievement would be given posthumously to Gajanan Naik for developing jaggery from palm juice, he said.

Sharma said the KVIC was conscious of the increased competition with multinational corporations entering the consumer sector in the country. The commission had identified products like soaps, hand-made paper, honey and herbal and food products which were its strong areas and would stress standardisation and quality certification so that these products can compete in the marketplace.

He hoped that the exercise of quality certification would commence from April this year.

UNI

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