Maharashtra rebrands khadi as ‘MahaKhadi’

The Maharashtra State Khadi and Village Industries Board (MSKVIB) has rebranded khadi as ‘MahaKhadi’ to make the specific handloom industry a peoples’ movement once again and encourage the sector through new marketing tactics. A ‘MahaKhadi Yatra’ (march) was recently launched by the board from Mumbai to take khadi to the high street fashion scene.

Rebranding seemed to be the perfect solution to attract youngsters and take khadi products to the international market, an Indian newspaper report quoted MSKVIB deputy CEO Bipin Jagtap as saying.

The MahaKhadi Yatra will be held across Maharashtra from October 9 to December end and showcase a wide variety of products manufactured by rural entrepreneurs, such as honey, soaps, bamboo crafts, warli paintings and handmade artefacts. The first MahaKhadi outlet will open in Pune.

MSKVIB has 120 sectors under the Gramodyog with around 7 lakh entrepreneurs. In Maharashtra, the sale of khadi products from its 23 manufacturing units was worth Rs 1043.84 lakh in 2015-16 and Rs 1097.71 lakh in 2016-17.