Spices Board Signs MoU with CFTRI to Set Up Incubation Facilities to Develop Innovative Products

The main goal is to assist and guide start-ups, exporters, SMEs, entrepreneurs, and FPOs in developing innovative products and processes in the spices sector.

The establishment of the incubation facility at CFTRI, Mysuru, is expected to support new product and process development in spices, as well as foster innovations and technologies for value addition, potentially diversifying the spices export basket and standardizing processes for innovative products. The initiative will provide Indian spices with new business and export opportunities.

With a focus on product development, diversification, and value addition, the Board has been strategizing to maintain India's leadership in the global spice trade. The jointly established spice incubation centre at CFTRI will aid in the development of innovative products and processes, according to D Sathiyan, Secretary, the Spices Board.

According to Sridevi Annapurna Singh, Director of CFTRI, CFTRI has successfully developed and transferred technologies, particularly in spice processing and value addition.

The selected incubatees will receive support for up to 18 months, including office space, technical support, access to relevant equipment, laboratory facilities, resources, knowledge sources, and so on.

The board has devised a pilot scheme to assist incubatees with 90 percent of project costs up to a maximum of Rs 10 lakh per incubatee during the incubation period.

This pilot project has been envisaged to promote and encourage value addition and product diversification to assist the industry's efforts to achieve $10 billion value realisation in spices exports by 2030.