FNB News - World Food India Summit & Nivesh Bandhu among MoFPI’s ’17 achievements

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FOOD PROCESSING

World Food India Summit & Nivesh Bandhu among MoFPI’s ’17 achievements

Friday, 29 December, 2017, 08 : 00 AM [IST]

Our Bureau, New Delhi

During the year 2017, the ministry of food processing industries (MoFPI) accomplished the following:

India hosted World Food India (WFI) 2017, known as the Kumbh Mela of Indian food. It witnessed the participation of 61 countries and global chief executive officers, besides 800 global and domestic exhibitors and 75,000 business visitors
Prime minister Narendra Modi launched Nivesh Bandhu, an investors’ portal
India was showcased as the preferred investment destination in the food processing sector at WFI 2017. It attracted investment intent worth about $13.56 billion from domestic and foreign investors
WFI strengthened India’s position as a global food factory
Global chief executive officers hailed India’s structural reforms and the improvement in the ranking in Ease of Doing Business
Cabinet approves a new Central sector scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana
Mega food parks were operationalised. Among others, facilities such as a common food processing incubation centre for shallots were launched in Tamil Nadu
Food and agro-based processing units and cold chain infrastructure were classified under agriculture activities for priority sector lending
Service tax on pre-conditioning, pre-coding, ripening, waxing, retail packaging and labelling of fruits and vegetables was exempted in cold chain projects
Investment tracking and facilitation desk of Invest India were set up in the ministry
A dairy processing and development fund worth Rs 8,000 crore set up in the National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)
Goods and Services Tax (GST) facilitation cell established in the ministry

Major strides were undertaken by MoFPI in 2017 under the leadership of Harsimrat Kaur Badal, minister, food processing industries, government of India.

The highlights of the major achievements are as follows:
World Food India, 2017
The ministry organised World Food India 2017 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi, between November 3 and 5 to showcase India’s investment potential in the food processing sector.The event, inaugurated by the prime minister, exhibited opportunities in the Indian food processing sector to foster maximum investment commitments. It provided a platform to exhibit innovative products and manufacturing processes showcasing the entire value chain of the food processing industry with a vision to leverage innovation, technology, development and sustainability in the backdrop of achieving food security. Sixty-one countries and global chief executive officers participated in the fair, along with 800 global and domestic exhibitors from 27 states. The exhibition saw footfalls from 75,000 business visitors. Germany, Japan and Denmark were the partner countries of the event, whereas Italy and the Netherlands were the focus countries. The president of India, at the valedictory function of World Food India 2017, termed it the Kumbh Mela of Indian food.

Nivesh Bandhu
At the inauguration of World Food India, Modi launched Nivesh Bandhu, an investors’ portal. The portal was aimed at bringing together information on Central and state government policies and incentives provided for the food processing sector. The portal maps resources upto the local level, with processing requirements. It is also a platform for business networking, for farmers, processors, traders, and logistics operators. Seven publications of MoFPI to help investors in the food processing sector in making informed decisions have been included in the portal. The portal also includes a food map of India, which will enable the investors to take decisions with regard to locating their projects, as the food map showed mapping of the potential of food processing in surplus production areas. The prime minister also released a coffee table book and a commemorative stamp on Indian cuisines.

India showcased as preferred investment destination
India was showcased as the preferred investment destination in the food processing sector at WFI 2017. Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) worth investment intent of $13.56 billion from domestic and foreign investors were signed during the event. A special cell has been set up in Invest India to follow up on these negotiations. MoFPI is guided by the principles of ensure steps to reduce wastage, produce more and process more. Farm to Fork is their mantra and the food processing industries aim to be the bridge between farmers and consumers.

WFI helped strengthen India’s position as a global food factory. Global chief executive officers participating in the event hailed India’s structural reforms and the improvement in the country’s ranking in Ease of Doing Business. Exclusive CEOs’ roundtables were organised with Modi and finance and corporate affairs minister Arun Jaitley. International ministerial and business delegations with 200-plus members from 15 countries took part in business-to-business (B2B)/business-to-government (B2G) meetings. The mega event hosted eight sectoral conferences, two plenary sessions on India the preferred destination and on One Nation, One food law - An enabling regulatory environment for investment in the food sector in association with the Food Standards and Safety Authority of India (FSSAI).

A large exhibition, spread over 40,000sq m in the verdant C- Hexagon lawns of India Gate, was organised with over 800 global and domestic companies. Special focus on farmer producer organisations (FPOs) and women entrepreneurs connected them to corporates – international and Indian - increasing opportunities for sourcing and business. MoFPI’s Theme Pavilion provided an exciting view of India’s offering to the world in terms of products, a geo-mapping of produce availability and mega food parks, through multiple technologies, like Smart Shelves, OLED screens, Twitter Wall, virtual and augmented reality, etc.

Food Street
Curated by chef Sanjeev Kapoor, Food Street was WFI’s most attractive highlight. It was set up as an experiential platform that brought together culinary practices, flavours, fragrances from the world’s cuisines and celebrated India’s rich cultural heritage and diverse uniqueness of its produce to create contemporary renditions and fusion food. A Guinness record was set at the event when chefs prepared 918kg of khichdi, a nutritious comfort food. Badal also appealed to each individual to take a pledge - No waste on my plate - to make India food secure.

MoFPI’s international participation
MoFPI showcased India’s strength in food processing industries by participating in international food exhibitions, such as Salon International de l’Alimentation (SIAL) in France, and as a partner country in Allgemeine Nahrungs Und Genußmittel Ausstellung (Anuga) in Germany.

It was also an honour for India to be a partner country for Anuga held in Cologne, Germany in October 2017. Buoyed with the idea of food diplomacy to bridge the differences and to transform the lives of farmers, Badal reiterated that the development of food processing industries will help in achieving the target of doubling farmers’ incomes by 2022. Upgrading our farming techniques and investments, not only in food processing, but also in farming technologies, need to learn from the West on how to control wastage at harvest and transportation level were the guiding aims in participating at the international events.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana
On August 23, 2017 the ministry’s schemes were restructured and new schemes were approved by the Cabinet and launched as Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY). The Sampada Scheme aims to target creation of infrastructure and increasing capacities of processing and preservation in the entire supply chain of the food processing sector, from the farm gate to the retail outlets. The new scheme will help in integrating food processing units and food trade with the farmers creating huge opportunities for employment of increasing income of the farmers. PMKSY is an umbrella scheme incorporating the ongoing schemes of the ministry like mega food parks, integrated cold chain and value addition infrastructure, food safety and quality assurance Infrastructure, etc. and also new schemes like infrastructure for agro-processing clusters, creation of backward and forward linkages, creation and expansion of food processing and preservation capacities.

Other significant administrative decisions

Food and agro-based processing unit and cold chain infrastructure have been classified under agriculture activities for priority sector lending. Availability of additional credit for food processing activities and infrastructure
Service tax on pre-conditioning, pre-coding, ripening, waxing, retail packaging and labelling of fruits and vegetables exempted in cold chain projects. This is a big relief in terms of tax exemption to the cold chain operators, as this facility was only available to the farmers at the farm gate, but not to the cold chain operators. This enhanced the viability of cold chain projects, encouraging more investment in the sector
To enhance the transparency and reduce human interface online software has been developed and put in use for filing of claims for infrastructure development projects. This has also being expanded to other schemes
Investment tracking and facilitation desk of Invest India has been set up in the ministry. The desk will identify new potential investors and approach them in a focused and structured manner for investment and follow up the investment cases by providing hand-holding services. The desk will also assist the ministry in organising roadshows both in India and overseas and organising investment meets
A dairy processing and development fund of Rs 8,000 crore has been set up in NABARD. It is used to modernise old and obsolete milk processing units, particularly in the cooperative sector, and will result in enhancing the milk processing capacity, thereby adding more value to the produce of the farmers and increasing their income
A common food processing incubation centre for shallots inaugurated in Perambalur

Additional fiscal concessions

Provisions in Budget 2016-17

Excise duty on refrigerated containers was reduced from 12.5 per cent to six per cent
Basic custom duty on refrigerated containers was reduced from 10 per cent to five per cent
Five per cent basic customs duty, as presently available under the project imports for cold storage and cold room also extended for cold chain, including pre-cooling unit, pack house, sorting and grading lines and ripening chambers
Excise duty on machinery reduced from 10 per cent to six per cent

Mega food parks
MoFPI is focusing on boosting the food processing industry, so that the agriculture sector grows exponentially and become a major contributor to doubling the farmers’ incomes and aid the Make In India initiative of the government. To give a major boost to the food processing sector by adding value and reducing food wastage at each stage of the supply chain with particular focus on perishables, MoFPI is implementing the mega food park scheme in the country. Mega food parks create modern infrastructure facilities for food processing along the value chain from farm to market with strong forward and backward linkages through a cluster-based approach. Common facilities and enabling infrastructure is created at the Central Processing Centre and facilities for primary processing and storage is created near the farm in the form of primary processing centres (PPCs) and collection centres (CCs). Under the scheme, the government of India provides financial assistance upto Rs 50 crore per mega food park project.

During the year, the following mega food parks were operationalised/inaugurated:

Patanjali Food and Herbal Park, Haridwar, Uttarakhand
The Indus Mega Food Park, Khargone, Madhya Pradesh
Jharkhand Mega Food Park Ranchi, Jharkhand
Jangipur Bengal Mega Food Park, Murshidabad, West Bengal
Srini Food Park, Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh
North East Mega Food Park, Nalbari, Assam
International Mega Food Park, Fazilka, Punjab
Integrated Food Park,Tumkur, Karnataka
MITS Mega Food Park Pvt Ltd, Rayagada, Odisha
The foundation stone for the following mega food parks was laid:
Punjab Agro Industries Corporation Mega Food Park Project, Ludhiana
Mega Food Park developed by Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (KINFRA) in Palakkad, Kerala
Mega Food Park developed by Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) in Alappuzha, Kerala
Maize-based Mega Food Park in Kapurthala, Punjab
A Mega Food Park is likely to benefit about 25,000 farmers apart from creating employment for 5,000 persons, especially in rural areas
The Mega Food Park projects at Satara (Maharashtra), Ajmer (Rajasthan) and Agartala (Tripura) are in advanced stages for operationalisation by the end of the current financial year

NABARD has sanctioned term loan of Rs 427.69 crore to 10 Mega Food Park projects and two processing units under the Food Processing Fund of Rs 2,000 crore, and out of this, an amount of Rs 81.10 crore has been disbursed. The ministry has notified 157 designated food parks in different states for the purpose of availing affordable credit from special fund with NABARD

Integrated cold chain and value addition infrastructure

Sixteen projects were operationalised in 2017. With these operationalisations, MoFPI has created an additional capacity of 2.44 lakh metric tonne of cold storage, 72.70 metric tonne per hour of Individual Quick Freezing (IQF), 34.55 lakh litre per day of milk processing/storage and 472 reefer vans between 2014 and 2017
During the last three-and-a-half years, 74 integrated cold chain projects have been made operational, taking the total number of cold chain projects to 111. The ministry has so far assisted 232 cold chain projects (including completed and ongoing projects) having a capacity of 7.38 lakh metric tonne of cold storage, 210.75 metric tonne per hour of IQF, 106.99 lakh litre per day of milk processing/storage and 1,371 reefer vans
The guidelines of the scheme have been revised on the basis of feedback and experience of this ministry to make them investor-friendly
On an average, each cold chain project benefits about 500 farmers in the fruit and vegetable sector and about 5,000 farmers in the dairy sector and creates employment for 100 persons.

Year	2014 (May-Dec)	2015	2016	2017 (till Dec)	Total
Number of cold chain projects completed	13	21	24	16	74
Total capacity of cold storage/CA/MA storage/deep freezer (lakh MT)	0.39	0.66	0.576	0.811	2.44
IQF (metric tonne/hr)	32.20	16.25	13.25	11	72.70
Milk storage/processing (lakh litre per day)	5.50	10.00	16.05	3.00	34.55
Reefer vehicles (numbers)	82	98	196	96	472

Under the scheme of setting up/modernisation of abattoirs, one project in Panaji, Goa, has been operationalised.
Ten food testing labs have been completed
On 31 August 2017, a common food processing incubation centre for shallots launched at Perambalur in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology (IIFPT). Farmers in Perambalur district are producing 70,000 ton of shallots per year in a cultivation area of 8,000 hectares, in spite of the increasing difficulty in cultivation due to increase in prices of inputs, unpredictable weather, disease outbreak and not getting adequate prices in the market. Thus, the CPC for shallots in Perambalur was started to ensure that no shallots are getting wasted, increase farmers’ incomes and also ensure availability of shallots to consumers.

GST facilitation cell
MoFPI established a four member GST facilitation cell at its office to guide the industry about the new tax regime. The ministry created the GST cell for the purpose of implementation and facilitating the rollout of GST with immediate effect. The GST facilitation cell provides all possible support for the rollout of the levy to the major industry and business associations related to MoFPI. This cell serves as the first point of contact to address any issue being faced by any sector related to the ministry. The GST cell will be equipped with the complete knowledge of the relevant GST Act, rules, rate structure, etc. The members of the GST facilitation cell can be accessed through the toll-free number 1800111175 or on #AskonGSTFPI. Further details can be accessed from http://www.mofpi.nic.in

To aid MoFPI’s objectives, FSSAI simplified product approval

Approved a large number of new additives harmonised with the international Codex standards
Notified an amendment to the regulations as a result of which non-standardised food products called proprietary foods (except novel food and nutraceuticals) that use ingredients and additives approved in the regulations will no longer require product approval. This has provided considerable relief to the industry
The National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM) at Kundli, Sonepat, Haryana, and the Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology (IIFPT) at Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, are being developed by the government as the Centres of Excellence. The graduates from these institutes have got 100 per cent placement
FSSAI, the apex regulatory body for food safety in India, announced a powerful new tool called the Food Regulatory Portal. Planned as a single interface for food businesses to cater to both domestic operations and food imports, this portal would be a game-changer for effective and transparent implementation of the food safety laws in the country. Aiming to create an enabling environment for businesses to operate, the portal is strategically aligned with the government’s mission of One Nation, One Food Law

National Food Processing Policy
The approach paper on the National Food Processing Policy has been uploaded on MoFPI’s website and suggestions are invited from all stakeholders and general public.

The National Food Processing Policy shall focus on building India’s National Food Grid and National Cold Chain Grid and create retail markets every nook and corner of the country.