Khadi: A Quiet Revolution Weaving India’s Future

Khadi, or homespun coarse cotton cloth, was one of the most potent symbols of the independence movement.

It was first adopted as a viable alternative to mill fabrics, to boycott factory-produced material, which had swamped and destroyed the traditional Indian textile sector, leaving millions across the country destitute.

While the results were not as effective as expected, Khadi gained a charm that has endured for over a century. What started as a revolutionary, anti-colonial totem evolved after independence when homespun was dyed in socialist hues. Artisanal weaves were expected to attract higher priority than corporate cloth.

A Khadi Board was established, sops and subsidies were allocated, and textile outlets of most provincial governments offered decent-quality Khadi products at remarkably low prices. However, despite these efforts, the sector continued to wallow in abject disarray for decades, heavily sidelined by synthetics and factory textiles, until a truly revolutionary turnaround began in 2014.

Today, the Khadi sector, formally known as the Khadi and Village Industries sector, is booming. New jobs are being created. Production is up. So are sales, productivity, and earnings.

Hard-nosed policy-making and implementation, effectively driven by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission, have not only revived the sector but also addressed the issues created by the institutional sloth of mindless socialism.

The numbers speak for themselves.

The value of production in the Khadi sector has increased by over 300 per cent in the past decade, while sales have risen by 400 per cent during the same period. This is a truly staggering achievement, not least because the beneficiaries are precisely those tiny, forgotten, weaving communities, whose sufferings and poverty were periodically romanticised by those with a fixed idea of India.

Even more significantly, the wild fluctuations which used to afflict the Khadi sector are now firmly in the past. Instead, there is sustained, robust growth, year upon year. This is the power of monitoring and implementation at work.

In the chart above, note how the sector used to slump periodically, wiping out any meagre gains made in the preceding years. But also note how, since 2014, growth has remained in the extremely buoyant double digits.

As a result, productivity in the Khadi sector has soared in the past decade by over 250 per cent. These are unbelievable numbers.

Just look at how the productivity curve takes off post-2014. And the best part is that this rise in productivity has led to the generation of lakhs and lakhs of new jobs.

Cumulative employment in the Khadi sector rose from 1.3 crores in 2014 to over 1.8 crores in 2024, meaning that over 50 Lakh new jobs were generated in this one sector alone, within a decade.

Obviously, profitable policies not only have their own attraction but also quickly gain critical mass to become self-sustaining, thereby reducing the burden on the exchequer. This is how nations are built — by the profit motive, in an organised manner.

And to press the point home, here is a final chart showing annual growth in sales. Once again, note how the wild fluctuations that were so common before 2014 have ceased, and observe how the curve has remained in the black without dipping into the red since then.

This is the change that can occur when the informal becomes formal. It is a revolution sans revolutionaries. In conclusion, it is heartening to see that Khadi, once a powerful symbol of the freedom struggle, has quietly transformed into a potent symbol for Amrit Kaal.

Data from Press Information Bureau (PIB): https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2031853