The Hindu : States asked to promote food processing units

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 07, 2002

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States asked to promote food processing units

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI Sept. 6. The Government is seeking to rationalise taxes affecting food processing industries. The Food Processing Ministry has requested the State Governments to consider granting zero sales tax status to such industries, especially in the case of perishable products.

Disclosing this here on Thursday at a review meeting on food parks and food processing industries with State Governments and other implementing agencies, the Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, N.T. Shanmugam, said as part of the policy support, his Ministry had been successful in obtaining zero excise duty status for processed fruits and vegetables.

Mr. Shanmugam said a Group of Ministers had been constituted to deliberate on integration of food laws and recommend a draft statute. In the plan schemes of the Ministry, an attempt had been made to rationalise both areas of support as well as the pattern of assistance during the 10th Plan period.

Till the ninth Plan, 29 food parks had been sanctioned. Conceding that progress in operationalising the food parks had been slow, he urged the States to ensure that all necessary conditions for the success of food parks were put in place quickly.

The purpose of the food park for integrating the food chain, providing key common facilities such as uninterrupted power supply, water supply, cold storage, quality control and analytical laboratories and major processing facilities would be served only if these are completed at the earliest.

Apart from the common facilities it was also critical for the promoting and implementing agencies to ensure the presence of at least 10 industrial units in the premises of the food parks in the current financial year.

The Ministry would like to assist in setting up food parks in States and requested the Delhi and Himachal Pradesh Governments, which do not have food parks as yet, to forward viable and cogent proposals which can be quickly approved. Later, speaking to reporters the Minister said a food park in Virudhunagar in Tamil Nadu is going to be inaugurated shortly. Another one in Haryana is being set up at a cost of Rs. 53.2 crores and yet another set up by KINFRA has become functional in Kerala.

Mr. Shanmugam said his Ministry is making all-out efforts to shorten the gestation period of the food parks. The review meeting was called to discuss with the State agencies the concept and modalities that can be fine-tuned to shorten the gestation period of food parks.

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