In a bid to boost the production of khadi and benefit small weavers across the country, government employees may soon be seen wearing khadi to work. In a plea made by Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC), the association has urged the government to encourage their officers to don the hand-spun fabric at least once every week. "We are discussing this with the government and we will make an appeal. Employees can wear it to work on just one day," said KVIC chairman, VK Saxena. Sources inside the government have said that even though the exercise may be voluntary, it will seriously affect a rise in sales.

And surprisingly, officers are not averse to the plan. One officer described it as a "good idea", while many others already wear Fabindia shirts. KVIC is also partnering with Fabindia and Raymond to retail high-end khadi.

KVIC on several occasions has tried to push khadi as uniforms in defence forces, government schools, railways, and Air India. Not just this, KVIC recently won a tender worth Rs 40 crores from the railways and also got JK Cement on board to adopt khadi uniforms.

Hence, the main focus for KVIC purely rests on production, price and quality of their product. The aim is to increase the pie for khadi from 1% to 3-3.5% in overall textile production, as well as take the production rate beyond 7% in coming years.