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NABARD, SIDBI, CSIR-CFTRI team up for funds, loans to food entrepreneurs
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Wednesday, 08 July, 2015, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Nandita Vijay, Bengaluru
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fiogf49gjkf0d National Bank of Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD) and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) have now teamed up with CSIR-CFTRI to identify potential food entrepreneurs seeking funds for technology transfer.
The key objective of the initiative is to provide a revolving fund that is continually replenished as withdrawals are made. There are also options of soft loans with an interest rate of 5 per cent to enable micro, small, medium enterprises(MSMEs) set up businesses and grow.
SIDBI has created a pool of mentors to advice MSMEs on how to access funds and generate business growth with return on investment (RoI). Concepts like revolving funds scheme help food and agri entrepreneurs to achieve sustainability. There are also advisories on energy efficiency, which is a critical cost-saving component in agri and food processing business, according to officials concerned.
At an MSME meet on value-added agriculture and food processing organised in association with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), at the CSIR-CFTRI campus, a couple of weeks ago, M I Ganagi, chief general manager, NABARD Karnataka Regional Office, said that with the Union government mandating the Make in India programme, the congregation of bankers, scientists and MSMEs is seen to serve as a link for growth.
“Karnataka has eight agri export zones identified as Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Tumkur, Hassan, Kolar, Bagalkot, Chitradurga and Dharwad. The state is also home to over 1,550 food and beverage processing companies. There is a potential for this sector to generate a turnover of Rs 3,000 crore going by the area development schemes in each district where state government has allocated Rs 1,000 crore,” said Ganagi.
Considerable scope exists for banana cultivation at Chamarajanagar, mango in the districts of Kolar, Ramanagaram and Tumkuru, papaya in Chitradurga and Koppal besides pomegranate in Vijapur and Chitradurga. Since there are immense opportunities for growth in agriculture going by the visible transformation for use of aseptic packaging for fruit pulp concentrates, ready-to-drink and ready-to-eat foods, besides herbal extracts and nutraceuticals, banks are now working to fund many of the entrepreneurial ventures, according to Ganagi.
Further, Ganagi said that in Karnataka, there was scope to invest to the tune of Rs 230 crore for food entrepreneurial initiatives. The CSIR-CFTRI platform to bring in agri entrepreneurs is seen to have an ideal access for the necessary financial capital.
CSIR-CFTRI is engaged in technology transfer and training and provides a wider platform for interaction with scientists who are already working in food processing with spices, grains, packaging of fruit and vegetable besides food safety. “Therefore enterprising farmers could look at value addition with access to funds and technology,” stated Dr N Muthukumar, chairman, CII-Mysore.
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