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MoFPI to facilitate investors’ meets with Indian food processing firms
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Tuesday, 08 November, 2016, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Ashwani Maindola, New Delhi
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fiogf49gjkf0d Many companies are expected to visit India in the next couple of months, and the ministry of food processing industries (MoFPI) will facilitate meetings with the local food processing industry players for future tie-ups.
This was stated by Harsimrat Kaur Badal, minister of food processing industries, who added that there would be major announcements by investors regarding foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail of food products manufactured in India soon.
The minister, who recently visited London and Paris (where she met food processing giants), expected that the ground work which was being done by her ministry would get completed well before the commencement of the World Food Summit, which is slated to take place in India next year.
Badal said, “World players are showing interest in the country, as the total retail market in India, which is currently $600 billion, which is to treble in the next three years.”
“I am trying to create a platform. Foreign companies are looking for Indian partners and this is a great sign for the industry. Also they are interested in what they could source from India and who could be their possible partners for it,” she added.
“The platform would provide opportunities to these investors to choose the best partners for them, because in India, some are big companies, some are small and some players are individual. So such a platform would help them choose the right people for their businesses,” Badal stated.
The minister added that they would be coming here in the next couple of months, and there would be informal meetings. “By the time the World Food Summit commences, concrete announcements would be made,” she said.
Badal stated that World Food Summit would provide the platform to progressive farmers and players in different sub-sectors, including packaging, processing, transport and everything that is related to the food processing industry.
“At that event, every state would showcase its potential. And all the stakeholders, national and international, should come and see the opportunities available for partnerships and investments,” she added. The minister said all 42 sanctioned mega food parks would be operational within the next two years.
Badal also pitched for allowing the sale of non-food items under the current FDI policy for food retail. “At least 25 per cent part of sale of personal and homecare products is under consideration,” she added. It is learnt that MoFPI has sent a request to the government in this regard.
Meanwhile the ministry sought additional funds for the implementation of existing programmes and some new schemes. The ministry asked for a fund of Rs 350 crore for the current fiscal to implement the mega food park scheme and other new schemes.
A scheme for the setting up of agro-processing clusters, a scheme for the creation of backward and forward linkages and a scheme to incentivise the creation of farmer producer organisations (FPOs) in the food processing sector is being considered by the ministry.
Badal said, “The Web-based system is already in place for the mega food park scheme since June, and about Rs 160 crore has been disbursed electronically.”
The cabinet will also be approached for the approval of the scheme for the creation of infrastructure for agro-processing clusters and the scheme for the creation of backward-forward linkages.
Badal added that MoFPI was aiming at setting up 500 cold chain projects to reduce post-harvest losses of fruits and vegetables. In this regard, the ministry would soon approve 100 cold chain projects.
“Eight mega food parks have been made operational so far, and four will be operational in the next couple of months. The cold chain projects will come up in the next year-and-a-half,” she said at an event on cold chain organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry in New Delhi.
“Cold chain plays a crucial role in the food processing industry,” Badal said, adding, “Besides, in the new schemes we are planning that each state should make clusters of such crops that are grown in abundance there. Each cluster comprises a group of farmers well connected to the industry and the market, and MoFPI will help in this.”
It is pertinent to mention here that she also met the stakeholders, including industry representatives and policy makers [including officials of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the ministry of commerce and MoFPI].
At the meeting, she took stock of the progress and possible hindrances for the food processing sector.
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