Second Series on Food Processing Held as Government Looks to Attract FDI

The Second series of Food Processing Edition of Exclusive Investment Forum by Invest India, the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency, Government of India was held by Union Minister for Food Processing Industries (FPI) Harsimrat Kaur Badal. The first series was held on 22 June 2020.

The forum saw participation from representatives of six states Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Haryana and from 193 companies from 19 different countries.

The minister said that due to governments' timely intervention and the efficiency of the FPI sector essential foods were delivered to every nook and corner of the country. She lauded the industry for achieving this task despite suffering several challenges like loss of labour force, fall in trade, and severe wastage of perishable foods due to the lockdown.

She said that the conditions were not favourable during lockdown but now we have o convert these challenges into opportunities. She also said that the industry should follow the mantra given by the Prime Minister about making the country self-sufficient. AS new countries are looking towards India as the new manufacturing hub and thus the industry should be prepared to reap the benefits of such opportunities.

She specifically focused on the Ready to Eat segment as a perfect segment.74% of the total employment in this industry was in the organised sector and 60% of the 25 lakh units are in the rural areas and 80% of these were family-owned ventures. These statistics make this sector a very good lead to the other sectors through the Atma Nirbhar Abhiyaan.

The minister highlighted the fact that the sector was given a proper mention in the Economic Stimulus Package and also said that an ‘Empowered Group of Secretaries’(EGoS) and ‘Project Development Cell’(PDC) will be made in each ministry which will be tasked with attracting foreign investments.

Other issues discussed at the forum were policy incentives, industrial zones, infrastructure capabilities to make India a manufacturing hub.