Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union minister for food processing industries, has stated that the government is aiming at making India a hub for food processing industries and acquiring top position in this sector.
Badal was speaking at a recently-held Food Conclave in New Delhi, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in partnership with ministry of food processing industries (MoFPI). The minister said that the vision of the government was to ensure that India graduates from being the largest producer of food to processor of food.
“Food processing sector has a critical role in arresting the food wastage and taming inflation besides uplifting the state of the farmers who form the backbone of the country, ensure employment to the youngest population in the world,” says Badal.
She pointed out that much of the food wastage took place at the farming, harvesting and storage levels, unlike the West, where it takes place on the plate.
Further, she mentioned that efforts were made in this regard by the ministry in sanctioning 42 Mega Food Parks, 30 cold chains and setting aside special funds to finance new ventures through Rs 2,000 crore corpus via NABARD.
To realise this vision, she urged the industry to come forward with inputs, collaborate with foreign players and partner with the government.
Speaking at a special occasion, ‘Setting an enabling environment for creating made in India Brand’ Sadhvi Niranjana Jyoti, minister of state for food processing industries highlighted the fact that ministry of agriculture and the ministry of food processing industries were critically linked and there was a need for mutual support.
The minister even suggested collaboration with rural development ministry for linking food processing and rural development. She mentioned that food processing had great potential to create employment opportunities for youth and connects with a large number of consumers, farmers and industry. She pointed out the need to improve budget allocation to achieve the development goal.
On any possibility of merging the ministries, the minister however confirmed that there was no such plan, though a larger collaboration was needed.
Ranglal Jamuda, secretary, MoFPI, acknowledged the need to create sufficient infrastructure to handle the large primary production volumes and create opportunities for food processing.
Meanwhile, Piruz Khambatta, chairman, CII, National Food Processing Committee, and chairman & managing director, Rasna Pvt. Ltd, in his opening remarks put forward the CII vision of realising the potential of food processing in what it can do for rural India as IT had done for urban India.
The strategic importance of the food processing sector to the economy can be gauged from the fact that the sector contributes as much as 11 per cent and 9 per cent of GDP in agriculture and manufacturing sectors respectively. During the past five years (ending 2012-13), food processing sector grew at 8.4 per cent compared to 3.3 per cent agricultural growth and 6.6 per cent manufacturing growth. Given the huge production base of the country, the sector is well-positioned to elevate the agricultural economy, raise farmer incomes, and generate employment. “It has enormous potential for creating export earnings provided it is given the right impetus in terms of policy and investment environment,” he said.
B Thiagarajan, chairman, CII National Committee on State Level Coordination- Agriculture & Food Processing and president, Blue Star, reiterated the minister’s vision of including not just the farmer but his family in the process of development of the food processing and take forward this agenda in the work that CII was doing at the state level.
Coinciding with the conclave, a CII-Rabo Bank report on Importance of Food Processing sector was also released. The report envisages the role for food processing in employment generation, contribution to the overall GDP and controlling inflation, promoting value added exports, promoting ‘Make in India’ opportunity and enhancing nutritional security.
Rajesh Srivastava, chairman, Regional Committee on Agriculture, Food and Water, CII Northern Region and chairman and managing director, Rabo Equity Advisors, stressed the need for stepping up allocation to the food processing sector given that it is labour-intensive and ahead of several other sectors in value of output. Srivastava put forward the idea of setting up a Food Processing Bank in India that would have the right skill set to evaluate food processing proposals and improve availability of finance.
At the inaugural session, R S Sondhi, MD, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd, noted the important lessons from the dairy sector for other food processing sector. Going forward, the demand for processing and packaged foods, driven largely by the rising income levels and changing lifestyles would increase manifold, in the near future.
In another important session on Agriculture and Food Processing: A Vital Link to Tame Food Inflation, Dr Ashok Gulati, Infosys chair professor for agriculture, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), pointed out that countries which had high processing levels were better able to tame food inflation. He cited quite a few instances of certain Asian countries where processing was between 20 per cent to 50 per cent and about 70 per cent in USA and European countries. He urged the need for synergy between the ministry of agriculture and food processing industries to ensure that processable varieties are made available and the right set of incentives are lined up to boost investment in the supply chain.
Mayank Jalan, co-chairman, CII National Committee on Food Processing, & managing director, Keventer Agro, was present on the occasion.
