The dates for schemes of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), including Operation Greens, Integrated Cold Chain, and development of infrastructure for food processing and value addition under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana, have been extended for submission of expression of interest till April 30, 2020.
Experts feel that several factors have forced the ministry to continue to push forward the dates for submission of applications. The model of subsidy was faulty, say experts while adding that the requirement under the expression of interest for these schemes has proven a constraint for businesses and that’s why Indians have not seen much growth in the much hyped Mega Food Park projects.
The biggest example was the Rs 2,000 crore NABARD loan which was announced in 2015 Budget but thus far only Rs 600 crore were disbursed because of its limitations.
Explaining the situation, Arpita Mukherjee, professor, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), said, “One needs to understand that a subsidy/ fiscal concession given to a food park can be challenged in the WTO in the same way as a subsidy given to an electronic park. India lost the case in 2019 in the WTO. Therefore, any fiscal concessions have to be carefully designed. Second, if the requirements are a constraint on the business model there will be limited interest. Third, economy is not doing well. And fourth, NABARD needs to be more business-friendly. There is a fear among SMEs that NABARD is very slow.”
For value chain development projects for Tomato, Onion and Potato under the Operation Greens Scheme for which advertisement was first published in November 2018 for expression of interest, the last date for submission of EoI was Feb 29, 2020, which now stands extended up to April 30, 2020.
Similarly, for setting up of integrated cold chain projects, the last date was March 13, 2020, which is now extended upto April 30, 2020.
Also for creation of infrastructure for agro processing clusters under PMKSY, the EoI was issued on August 29, 2019, while the last date for submission of proposal was Feb 29, 2020. This was also extended up to April 30, 2020.