Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Government of India organized the largest and most comprehensive ‘Mega Distribution’ program through virtual medium at its Central Office, Mumbai. More than 5 lakh Khadi artisans, entrepreneurs and beneficiaries were benefited under Gramodyog Vikas Yojana, Khadi Vikas Yojana and Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP). Chairman KVIC Shri Manoj Kumar on this occasion, addressed lakhs of artisans across the country through virtual medium and appealed to join Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s ‘Viksit Bharat’ and ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ campaign. North Zone Member KVIC Shri Nagendra Raghuvanshi, Eastern Zone Member Shri Manoj Kumar Singh, Joint Secretary (ARI) from MSME Ministry Shri Vipul Goyal, Economic Advisor (MSME) Ms. Simi Chaudhary and senior officials of Central Office, KVIC along with officers and employees from the field offices across the country were present in the program through virtual mode .
In line with the vision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, a historic initiative was taken towards promoting self-reliance and entrepreneurship in the Khadi and Village Industries sector, a ‘Mega Distribution’ program was organized at the headquarters located in Vile Parle. In this program, 16377 equipment, machines and toolkits were distributed to the beneficiaries associated with the state and divisional offices of all the 6 zones (East Zone, West Zone, North Zone, South Zone, Central Zone and Northeast Zone) across the country under the Gramodyog Vikas Yojana scheme. Along with this, 44 renovated Khadi Bhavans and 750 Khadi workshops were also inaugurated under the Khadi Vikas Yojana Scheme. On this occasion, under the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme, margin money subsidy of Rs. 469 crore was disbursed on sanctioned loan of Rs. 1399.13 crore to 14456 PMEGP units across the country through video conferencing, which will create 159016 employment opportunities. Along with this, Chairman KVIC also inaugurated 5000 new PMEGP units through online medium. In the financial year 2024-25, a margin of Rs. 2175 crore was disbursed to a total of 58850 beneficiaries, generating 64,73,50 jobs.
Chairman, KVIC Shri Manoj Kumar informed that in order to recognise the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ vision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and to provide employment to the youth, Khadi and Village Industries Commission has organized the most comprehensive and massive toolkit distribution program in its history under the Gramodyog Vikas Yojana Scheme. Under this, a total of 16,377 toolkits and equipment were distributed through virtual medium, which includes 3,950 Bee boxes, 7,067 electric pottery wheels, 1,350 leather product repair toolkits, 390 footwear manufacturing equipment, 420 electrician toolkits, 80 AC repair toolkits, 300 plumber toolkits, 60 mobile repairing toolkits, 971 sewing machines, 278 handmade paper making machines, 349 automatic agarbatti making machines, 60 pedal operated agarbatti making machines, 320 turnwood machines, 180 wooden toy making machines, 460 waste wood craft machines and 292 agriculture based food processing machines.
During this program, Shri Manoj Kumar informed that KVIC has so far released a grant amount of Rs. 215 crore under Modified Market Development Assistance (MMDA) to 1,110 Khadi institutions in the financial year 2024-2025, benefiting about 1,46,246 artisans. Apart from this, a grant amount of Rs. 40 crore has also been disbursed to 1153 Khadi institutions through ISEC program. In continuation to this, today, additional MMDA grant amount of Rs. 32.73 crore was released to Khadi institutions benefiting 3817 artisans.
Mentioning about the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, KVIC Chairman said, “We all have to adopt the mantra of ‘Vocal for Local’ as well as ‘Make for World’, only then Prime Minister Modi’s vision of ‘Local to Global’ will be recognised.” While making an important announcement for Khadi artisans, he said that the wages of Khadi artisans will be increased by 20 percent from April 1, 2025. In the last 11 years, the Modi government has made a historic increase of 275 percent in the wages of Khadi artisans. Now the spinners will get Rs. 15 for spinning per hank on the charkha.
While talking to the journalists, Shri Manoj Kumar said that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi gave the mantra of ‘Khadi for Fashion’ for ‘Khadi Renaissance’ in Bharat Tex-2025, to reach out to the masses and to popularize Khadi as a modern garment, KVIC organized grand Khadi fashion shows in many cities including Nagpur, Pune, Vadodara, Surat, Chennai, Jaipur, Prayagraj. With the inspiration of the Prime Minister, ‘New Khadi of New India’ has reached especially the young generation and is establishing its identity as a modern garment. Chairman, KVIC informed that the sale of Khadi in Prayagraj Mahakumbh was Rs. 12.02 crore, while in the last financial year, the total production of Khadi and Village Industries reached Rs. 1.08 lakh crore and sales reached Rs. 1.55 lakh crore. In the last 10 years, 1.87 crore jobs were created, including 10.17 lakh new jobs. More than 10 lakh new projects were established under PMEGP, which provided employment to more than 88 lakh people.
Lakhs of Khadi artisans associated with the offices of Khadi and Village Industries Commission, representatives of Khadi Institutions, beneficiaries of Gramodyog Vikas Yojana and PMEGP scheme was connected through online medium across the country in the program. Along with this, KVIC officials and employees were also present at the Central office in Mumbai.