Big business boost to Bihar Khadi

Patna: Bihar Khadi has started drawing the attention of textile giants.

Branded fabric and fashion biggie Raymond has placed procurement orders with two state khadi institutions. Also, the industries department is in talks with companies like Fabindia and Arvind Limited (formerly Arvind Mills) to supply khadi cloth to them too.

“Our officials had a meeting with Raymond representatives, who took cloth samples from five khadi institutions for testing. All were found to be real khadi (hand spun and hand woven), and of high quality. The cloth company has placed procurement orders with two khadi institutions,” industries minister Jai Kumar Singh said.

Singh was speaking prior to inaugurating a mobile van that will travel around Patna to sell khadi items. His department is planning to requisition more such vans that will travel across Bihar to take khadi to the masses.

Principal secretary, industries, S. Siddharth, Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority managing director R.S. Srivastav, Bihar State Khadi Board chief executive officer B.N. Prasad and other officials were present on the occasion.

The cloth produced in the state has been branded “Bihar Khadi” and has been given a logo which resembles a charkha and is currently in the process of being patented.

In a tie-up with the state government, National Institute of Fashion Technology Patna has provided 100 new khadi designs to make it attractive for the youth.

Principal secretary Siddharth said big companies like Raymond could market “Bihar Khadi” pan-India and even abroad.

“Khadi produced in our state is among the finest. We are also planning to target international buyers by offering khadi cloth dyed with natural colours. Training and testing work is going on at one of our facilities in Gaya district,” Siddharth said.

Board CEO Prasad said Raymond has “placed initial orders of around Rs 2 lakh each for khadi cloth to khadi institutions in Madhubani and Bhagalpur district, but the amount is expected to increase from the next batch”.

The state government is in the process of framing a khadi policy as well.

The industries department is going to open a “khadi school” at Manpur in Gaya district to train katin (thread makers) and weavers in producing khadi cloth as per market requirements.

Courtesy: The Telegraph