Mumbai, Jan 14 (IANS): Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd.(ONGC) employees will now get their annual cash bonuses in the form of Khadi vouchers for buying Khadi garments, a top official said here on Saturday.

Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena said that the Khadi vouchers would be of 35 per cent higher value compared to the cash bonuses, thus giving the 35,299 ONGC employees additional benefits.

Explaining the scheme in the agreement, he said ONGC will provide its employees with Khadi vouchers with an extra 35 per cent incentive, enhancing the value of bonus to 135 per cent of the cash value.

"While 34,236 regular staffers will get Khadi vouchers of Rs 10,000, the other 1,063 non-regular employees will get Khadi vouchers of Rs 5,000 each, valid for a period of two months. KVIC will earn Rs 35 crore from ONGC by this initiative," Saxena said.

Against this, the total sale of KVIC products would be around Rs 47 crore, of which 22 per cent or Rs 10 crore would be wages and five per cent rewards to artisans joining this special marketing initiative, he added.

KVIC will sell its top quality products at the employees' doorstep by organising 16 special exhibitions on ONGC premises.

The first of these expos will start from Monday in Maharashtra and Gujarat which will continue till February 14, to be followed by a calendar of exhibitions in Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Tripura, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Goa.

KVIC and ONGC officials are working out plans to hold four expos simultaneously at four venues to sell the Khadi products, according to Saxena.

"By this, the rural communities will earn more, KVIC will boost employment opportunities by generating 6.50 lakh extra mandays for the artisans besides providing sales to their products and value for money for ONGC employees," Saxena pointed out.

He said this initiative has been hailed in both business and social circles as an experiment of "multi-level sustainable development, and also a model of socio-economic rewards for the producer and consumers alike.