Chennai, June 4 (KNN) Identifying the space in which Tamil Nadu can perform best, the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) is scripting innovative plans for the state market with the belief that the state has a potential in three key areas –bee keeping industry, brass metal carving and extracting banana fibre.

Talking about the textile sector of the state, G. Chandramouli, chairman, south zone, KVIC, an organization of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), said “Tamil Nadu is the hub for textiles as well as banana. We want to extract fibre from the banana plant and use it in the textile industry.”

 KVIC has entered into an agreement with SITRA (South Indian Textile Research Association), Coimbatore, to develop banana fabric and different blending with silk and cotton.

Explaining the properties of banana fibre, Chandramouli said that the relative higher tensile strength, 15.2% moisture regain (cotton has 8.5% moisture regain), thermal resistance, UV resistance and sound proof property of banana fibres in the form of fibres as well as nano-fibrillated cellulose films makes it promising products.

In the bee keeping space, KVIC is proposing to start an exclusive “honey processing centre” with the help of the State government at Ooty to process the wild honey available at The Nilgiris.

Highlighting the programs for bee keeping sector, Chandramouli said that awareness camps were being organized for the Kurumba community people who were professional raw honey hunters.

Further, he said we have requested certain state governments to use honey in the mid day meal schemes as honey is good source of nutrition and can address malnutrition.

In Tamil Nadu, hill stations such as Ooty, Kodaikanal, Marthandam, Satyamangalam forest area and Madhumalai forest areas are some of the places where natural and wild honey is available.

Next comes Thanjavur brass metal carving which is another focus area for KVIC, in this regard, Chandramouli said “we have been doing this for several years now and have even implemented a cluster for development of brass craving.”

He said that Tamil Nadu was the only market for brass metal carving art and the export opportunity was vast in this space.

Besides, Fibre skin is another next possibility to explore in the state and for this KVIC had tied up with Chennai-based Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI).

“CLRI has developed a framework to use skin from chicken legs. We are exploring possibilities of how this can be used. We are studying models to tie up with shoe makers and leather makers for this venture,” Chandramouli said.

At present, KVIC has 451 sales outlets under Chennai Division and 250 outlets in the Madurai division and intends to scale this up in the coming years.

“We are looking at a franchisee model. Any entrepreneur who wants to start a business can approach us,” he added.