The Centre, in association with major food and beverages brands, is planning to float a new Special Purpose Vehicle Fund, with an initial corpus of Rs. 50 crore. This fund will help Indian brands to market themselves more competitively in major markets such as the U.S. and Europe.
While 50 per cent of this fund would come from industries, the remaining would come from the Centre and other agencies.
Industry should raise Rs. 25 crore with contribution from companies, said Piruz Khambatta, Chairman, CII National Committee on Food Processing, at the 11th edition of the biennial event, Foodpro 2015, organised by the CII in Chennai.
“One of the major challenges for the industry is brand building and finding a space for Indian products in retail stores globally. Branding is the key aspect for the industry now,” he said.
To promote the brand India abroad, the Centre should extend the Market Development Assistance (MDA) and provide fiscal incentives to the food processing industry.
Mr. Navas Meeran, Chairman, Foodpro 2015, said the Indian food industry was poised for huge growth. However, the industry is facing constraints like non-availability of adequate infrastructure facilities, lack of adequate quality control and testing infrastructure, seasonalities of raw materials, taxation issues, high packaging cost, affordability and cultural preference for fresh food.
Statistics indicate that the food processing sector contributes about 9.7 per cent to the manufacturing GDP of India. This sector employs close to 13 million people directly and 35 million indirectly.
Noting that the food processing sector is worth $70 billion, Ms. Rajshree Pathy, Chairperson, CII - Southern Region said, “We need to ensure that there is value addition for the growers. We should reduce wastage, promote crop diversification, generate employment opportunities and increase export earnings’’.
The exhibition saw a huge delegation from Korea and Netherlands displaying their products in the food processing sector.
In addition to Indian participation there were teams from Israel, Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, Spain and Switzerland.
Mr. Kyungsoo Kim, Consul General, Consulate General of the Republic of Korea, Chennai, who was also present at the event, said the cultural similarities, food habits and life styles of the people of Korea and India could pave the way for greater co-operation in the food processing sector.
