- The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) is a statutory body formed by the Government of India, under the Act of Parliament, ‘Khadi and Village Industries Commission Act of 1956’.
- It is an apex organisation under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, with regard to khadi and village industries within India, which seeks to – “plan, promote, facilitate, organise and assist in the establishment and development of khadi and village industries in the rural areas in coordination with other agencies engaged in rural development wherever necessary.”.
To improve the quality of Khadi products and to ensure their better acceptability for marketing, KVIC is implementing schemes like Market Promotion and Development Assistance (MPDA) Scheme, Khadi Reform and Development Programme (KRDP). The details of the Schemes are as follows:
i) Market Promotion Development Assistance (MPDA) – MDA scheme of KVIC has been modified as MPDA scheme formulated as a unified scheme by merging different schemes/ sub-schemes/components of different Heads implemented in the 11th Plan, namely, Market Development Assistance, Publicity, Marketing and Market Promotion. A new component of Infrastructure namely setting up of Marketing Complexes /Khadi Plazas has been added to expand the marketing net worth of Khadi & VI products. Under the erstwhile MDA scheme financial assistance was distributed amongst Producing Institutions (30%), Selling Institutions (45%) and Artisans (25%). Under the Modified MDA (MMDA) financial assistance is distributed amongst Artisans (40%), Producing Institutions (40%) and Selling Institutions (20%).
ii) Strengthening infrastructure of weak Khadi institutions and assistance for marketing infrastructure: This scheme was launched in 2009-10 and provides need-based support towards the Khadi sector for nursing the sick/problematic institutions elevated from “D” to “C” category as well as those whose production, sales and employment have been declining while they have potential to attain normalcy and to support creation of marketing infrastructure in other identified outlets. Under this scheme, financial assistance is provided to existing weak Khadi institutions for strengthening of their infrastructure and for renovation of selected khadi sales outlets.
iii) Khadi Reform and Development Programme (KRDP): In order to fully realize the significant growth potential of KVI Sector, in terms of employment generation, enhancing the earning of artisans and ensure positioning of Khadi in consonance with the current market needs, a comprehensive reform programme captioned Khadi Reform and Development Programme (KRDP) was approved by Government of India and is being implemented with the assistance from Asian Development Bank (ADB).