Union Minister of State for Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSME) Giriraj Singh said today his ministry has a target to employ around five crore people through the khadi industry over the next five years. <br/><br/>He said they made a plan to introduce solar-run spinning wheels in KVIC (Khadi and Village Industries Commission) so that it can provide employment to over five crore people throughout the nation in the next five years. <br/><br/>He was speaking to the news agency on the sidelines of an event, 'Khadi by Raymond'.<br/><br/>The Minister informed that presently khadi is less than one per cent of textiles, but due to concerted efforts in the last two years, the khadi industry sales have gone up from Rs 35,000 crore in 2014 to about Rs 52,000 crore.<br/><br/>The MSME ministry is taking various steps to boost the KVIC. Along with coir industry, the khadi industry is on top of the ministry's agenda. Various schemes, including interest subsidies, financial assistance under the market promotion and development scheme, cluster-based development opportunities, as well as design-oriented public private partnerships, are being promoted by the ministry. <br/><br/>He said the scheme of 'zero defect, zero effect', launched by the prime minister, will help increase the quality to match the global standards.