The Khadi and Village Industries Commission is in touch with South Africa, Australia, Germany and Egypt to jointly produce Khadi garments there.

"There is great demand for Khadi in many foreign countries," Union Minister of State for Agro and Rural Industries Sangh Priya Gautam, said on Thursday.

Under an exchange programme, weavers in these countries would be trained in India and Indian weavers would be trained in these countries to produce Khadi garments as per their designs and styles, he told reporters.

The KVIC would send the fabric to these countries and these countries and India would jointly market the finished product.

Gautam said the production, sales and export of Khadi garments was increasing. Last year, the sales through the KVIC touched Rs 9000 crore and this year, the sales figures crossed Rs 10,913 crore, registering a 14.9 per cent growth, he said

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had recently announced in Jammu and Kashmir that 100,000 jobs would be created in the country and 'these jobs can only come from the cottage and small scale industries', he said.