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Food Processing Industry Set to Treble: Smt Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Minister for Food Processing Industries
Sep 13, 2016

With India set to become the fastest growing global economy, the Food Processing industry will treble in the coming years, according to Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union Minister for Food Processing Industries. She identified retailers, processors and manufacturers as key drivers for growth of the industry. Inaugurating the Conference on FDI in Marketing of Food Products and Promotion of Exports organised jointly by CII and Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) on 13 September 2016, the Hon’ble Minister prioritized ‘ease of doing business’ and ‘investor-friendly’ policies as her Ministry’s focus. 

Speaking about her successful visits to the UK and Italy, the Hon’ble Minister shared that international industry is currently viewing India as the global food factory. Taking this forward, MoFPI will host the World Food Summit during 2017 as platform for investors, technology solution providers, manufacturers and other stakeholders.

Mr Avinash K Srivastava, Secretary, MoFPI, stressed higher allocation of financial resources by the Ministry to achieve a five-fold increase in the Gross Value Addition (GVA) of the Food Processing industry to the GVA of Agriculture.  He also spoke about ethical sourcing and integrating backward linkages into the supply chain.

Mr Ramesh Abhishek, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), identified food processing as a key component of the Make in India campaign. Leveraging India's strong food production base, he shared the Government’s decision to permit 100% FDI in trading and e-commerce of food products manufactured or produced in India to provide a major impetus to investments, employment and job creation in the food processing industry.

Mr Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice President, CII, and Vice Chairman, Bharti Enterprises, noted that the opening up of FDI in the marketing of food products will facilitate seamless integration of the supply chain, and help farmers reach products to huge retail markets much faster. Reducing intermediaries and strengthening the supply chain will cut down wastage and help improve price realization for farmers.

Mr Piruz Khambatta, Co-Chairman, CII National Committee on Food Processing industries, and Chairman and Managing Director, Rasna, lauded the Hon’ble Minister’s initiatives that are expected to attract global food and retail giants into the Indian food market.

Appreciating the Government’s FDI policy, Mr Krish Iyer, President & CEO, Walmart India, suggested inclusion of certain non-food items in the product portfolio for retailers.

Highlighting CII’s alignment with the ’Make in India’ initiative and Ease of Doing Business, Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII, reiterated CII’s commitment to work with the MoFPI to leverage the policy announcement for 100% FDI in the marketing of food products.

The conference participants included stalwarts such as Bharti Enterprises, Rasna Private Limited; Blue Star Ltd; Lulu Group; Max Hypermarket India Pvt. Ltd.; Britannnia Industries Ltd; Mrs Bector Food Specialties Ltd; Rabo Equity Advisors; Weikfield Foods Pvt Ltd; Vadilal Industries Ltd; The Kraft Heinz Company; Satara Mega Food Park Pvt Ltd; FieldFresh Foods and many more. Also present at the conference were representatives from foreign embassies/missions of Netherlands, Germany, and other countries.

13 September 2016

New Delhi

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