KVIC’s e-market portal sees rise in turnover, patronage

Launched on 7 July 2020, Khadi e-portal, www.khadiindia.gov.in, has delivered orders to over 10,000 customers out of the 65,000 people who visited the e-portal till date. KVIC has also delivered more than 1 lakh articles/commodities to these customers. The average online purchase orders during the period stood at around Rs11,000 per customer.

Khadi’s ever-growing popularity owes to the diversity of its product range that suits all segments of buyers.

Total number of orders since its launch 8 months ago stood at 10,100, while the number of visitors on the e-portal rose to 65,000.

Average sale per customer stood at Rs11,000 while the total quantity of orders dispatched stood at 1,00,600. 

Average quantity per order stood at 10, showing the diversty of the products on offer. The number of products in KVIC’s online inventory stood at 800. 

Highest individual sale value stood at Rs1.25 lakh while maximum orders received were from Maharashtra (1,785) Delhi (1,584) amnd UP (1,281). 

Online bestsellers included Khadi Masks, honey, herbal soaps, grocery, spices, fabric and agarbatti. 

Khadi’s successful e-commerce venture has provided a wide marketing platform for various KVIC products by bringing them to a larger population, union minister for MSMEs, road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari, has said. 

He said, e-marketing of Khadi is proving to be a game-changer, adding that effort should be to reach a turnover of Rs200 crore per year.

KVIC developed the e-portal in-house without spending a single rupee on web-developing. This is another factor that differentiates Khadi e-portal from other e-commerce sites - unlike other online portals, KVIC takes care of all logistics and infrastructure support like cataloguing, product photoshoot, maintaining online inventory and packaging and transportation of goods to the customers’ doorsteps. This saves Khadi artisans, institutions and PMEGP units manufacturing Khadi products from any financial burden.

KVIC chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena said, all expenses incurred on operating Khadi e-portal are borne by KVIC. While in case of other e-commerce sites, product cataloguing, packaging and dispatch are the responsibility of the respective sellers; KVIC has a policy that the Khadi institutions and PMEGP units are exempted from any such financial and logistical burden. He said, this saves them a lot of money and, therefore, Khadi’s e-portal is a unique platform for lakhs of Khadi artisans. He added that Khadi’s e-portal has given a big push to Swadeshi. While this has provided artisans an additional platform to sell their goods, he said,it has also displayed people’s love for Khadi and their resolve to make India Aatmanirbhar.

Khadi’s online sale that started with just Khadi Face Masks during the Covid-19 lockdown, has evolved into a full-fledged e-market platform with nearly 800 products. The product range includes hand-spun and hand-woven fine fabric like Muslin, Silk, Denim and Cotton, Unisex VicharVastra, trendy Modi Kurta and Jackets, Khadi’s Signature Wrist Watch, a variety of honey, Herbal and Green Tea, Herbal Medicines and Soaps, Papad, Kacchi Ghani Mustard Oil, cow dung/cow urine soaps and a range of herbal cosmetics among many others.

A number of unique products like Khadi fabric footwear, innovative KhadiPrakritik Paint from cow dung and the just-revived Heritage Monpa Handmade Paper are also being sold online. The product range is priced from Rs50 to Rs5,000, keeping in view the choice and affordability of all sections of buyers.

KVIC has received online orders from all 31 states and union territories that include the far-flung Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir among others.