Production and sales of khadi increased in last 3 years, says Minister of State for MSME

According to Giriraj Singh, Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), the production and sales of khadi, a handwoven cloth, have increased in the past three years. In 2011-12, 887.32 lakh square metres of khadi cloth was produced, generating sales value of Rs. 967.87 crore, with cumulative employment of 10.45 lakh persons. In 2012-13, production increased to Rs. 909.85 lakh square metres, sales value of Rs. 1,021.56 crore, and employment of 10.71 lakh persons. These figures further increased in 2013-14 to 932.51 square metres of cloth, Rs. 1,081.04 crore in sales turnover and employment of 10.98 lakh people. In 2012-13, Rs 32.50 lakh worth khadi apparels were exported, with Malaysia and Singapore being the main supply destinations. In 2013-14, this amount stood at Rs. 20.15 lakh, with primary export destinations being Kuwait, Oman, Canada, and the UK.