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India’s food processing industry received 43 per cent higher foreign direct investment (FDI) in the fiscal year 2016-17 on the back of favourable policy measures.
While the food processing industry received $727 million in 2016-17 fiscal year in FDI, it attracted $183 million in just last two months. India got the highest FDI in all the sectors and food processing saw the highest jump in investments last fiscal.
Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union minister for Food Processing Industries stated that today we are processing only 10 per cent of our total produce in India, which if increased even to small extent, will not only increase revenues but also create employment, address farmer issues and reduce wastage. A fund of Rs 6,000 crores have been allocated to put up units inside 42 mega food parks across the country, out of which four are in Telangana.
The Union government will also start taking in expression of interest (EoI) for various cold chain and food park clusters from industries in the next two weeks.
In Telangana, five cold chain projects have been approved to companies like Creamline Dairy which sells milk under Jersey brand and Dodla Dairy among others.
Badal was in Hyderabad to participate in the World Food India (WFI) Roadshow, and urged the food processing players from the state to participate in the WFI, which is being touted as the mega event of the Indian food processing industry. WFI is to be held in New Delhi during November 3-5, 2017.
Kaur pointed out that the biggest advantage of foreign players investing in the Indian market is that these players constantly seek local partners to do business with in the country, benefitting both the countries. This apart, citing industry estimates, she said that the retail sector in India is pegged at $600 billion and in the next three years, it is expected to touch $1.3 trillion, 70 per cent of which will come from the food sector alone.