UP Chapter Of PHDCCI Holds Webinar On Promoting Entrepreneurship and Investments In Food Processing Industry
LUCKNOW || The Uttar Pradesh Chapter of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) organized a Virtual Seminar on “Promoting Entrepreneurship and Investment in Food Processing Industry" on Thursday. The conference was supported by the leading manufacturer of food products – Haldiram’s Snacks Pvt. Ltd.
The objective of the Webinar was to discuss and highlights the challenges and way forwards for promoting Entrepreneurship and investment in Food Processing Industry. The industry perspective was given by Anil Khaitan, Former President & Mentor MSME Mentoring and Guidance Centre, PHDCCI, he said the contribution of Agriculture towards GDP is far low as compared to the number of people involved in it.
Food Processing is the 5th Largest Sector of the country’s economy and 13% it contributes to our annual GDP. This industry is an employment intensive industry as it is the biggest manufacturer of Mangoes, Pulses, Ginger, Garlic, Cashew nuts etc. in the country.
In India, we have 127 agro climate zone and they provide a fertile ground for innumerable plant based edibles which not only fulfils the demand of the indigenous people but also cater to global consumers, all these favourable factors provide a good growth opportunities to India’s Food Processing Sector.
He further said that both Indian as well as foreign companies are investing in Food Processing Sector but he also highlighted some critical challenges which are still being faced by this Sector of the country, which were, lack of distribution and supply of quality raw materials which ultimately affects the processing and exports; inadequate logistics and cold chain infrastructure, which basically results in loss of more than 30% of produce from farm to store.
Around 80% of cold storage in our country is occupied only by potatoes and very little space is left for other fruits and vegetables. Transportation of perishable product is also a challenge as in Indian Market we rely on traditional modes of transport instead of specialized vehicles.
In his address, Saurabh Sanyal, Secretary General, PHDCCI, shed the light on role of FPIs, FPOs who bridges the gap between producers' expertise and marketing of the product in food processing sector.
He mentioned the biggest challenges facing by the sector are inability to entrepreneurs to access credit, high cost of institutional credit, lack of access to modern technologies, inability to integrate with the food supply chain and compliance with the health and safety standard.
He added packaging has also become a very crucial part of the food processing sector because a good packaging makes an item ready for export and this what most of the MSMEs are looking into, there are certain units which have started working for only packaging of food products. He discussed about the schemes of MOFPI for boosting the Food Processing Industries.
He informed that Research based on surveys held in the country, by 2024, FPI will almost attract $53 investment and will generate employment for more than 9 million people in the country which will help in rising purchasing power of the people and will promote urbanisation. He said that department of Horticulture and Food Processing, Uttar Pradesh is making efforts for the continuous development by implementing various schemes for fruits, vegetables, potato, flowers, spices, medicinal and aromatic plants, betel-vine development along with subsidiary enterprises like bee-keeping, mushroom production, food processing and cultivation of betel-vine.
HP Kumar, Former CMD, NSIC & Advisor, PHDCCI said that the Indian food processing industry holds tremendous potential to grow, considering the still nascent levels of processing Opportunity to build business around meeting consumer at present. Though India's agricultural production base is reasonably strong, wastage of agricultural produce is sizeable.
R K Singh, Joint Director, Department of Food Processing, Uttar Pradesh shed light on the various schemes and lucrative subsidies available with the department of Food Processing attracting investment in the sector. He also expressed that the State is enriched and blessed with the availability of raw materials in abundance rendering unlimited opportunities in the Food Processing sector in the state and therefore promoting entrepreneurship and boosting the investment in this sector is the priority of the State Government.
B L Meena, Principal Secretary, Horticulture and Food Processing Deptt. Govt. of UP, after thanking the PHD Chamber for organizing the webinar and inviting him in it, informed that the State is able to attract investments of more than Rs. 15,000 Crore through the State Government initiative of 2017 and another Rs. 15,000 crore investments has come through Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojna (PMKSY), Government of India Scheme.
He also informed about the salient features of the recently formulated GOI scheme as part of 'Atma Nirbhar Bharat' named PM Formalization of Micro food processing Enterprises Scheme (PM FME Scheme) under which there are many benefits lsited for FPOs and SHGs of the State. He also informed about the growing Food Parks and Agro-Climatic zones in the State. He also informed that Uttar Pradesh being the 4th Largest State in the Country, has tremendous potential in Food Processing sector and the State Government in accordance with the Government of India has a lot to offer and facilitate the investors in this segment.
He also expressed that Uttar Pradesh, apart from being number one exporter of Milk and Meat products in India, has tremendous opportunities in other food processing sectors like honey, mushroom and other seasonal fruits. Since the Food Processing sector is blooming so rapidly, the State is one of the two-three states in the country which has a separate and dedicated Food Processing Department and Minister as well. Mr. Meena urged investors to also indulge in cold storages, reefer vans and mobile units to prevent spoilage and waste of the raw materials produce of the State.
Alok Sinha, Agriculture Production Commissioner, Government of Uttar Pradesh in his keynote address stated that about 70% of the total population of the State, around 15.5 crore people lives in villages and the total contribution of the Economy from the rural area is around 27%. Sinha expressed that in order to double the income of the farmers of the State its pertinent to have value addition in their agriculture produce and that will come only from boosting the food processing sector of the State.
He said that making policies are easy but implementing those policies to its maximum strength and in the right direction is the need of the hour. Mr. Sinha said that though Uttar Pradesh has 9 Agro-Climatic zones and is very rich in Agriculture produce but the challenge somehow is to transform the unorganized things towards the organized direction in order to procure the maximum benefits of the policies made. And to achieve this very mission the State Government has come up with the FPO policy whereby developing one FPO (Agriculture FPO and off-farm FPO) per block per year is targeted in the State resulting in the development of more than 800 FPOs per year which shall cover and cater not only Agriculture produce but also horticulture, dairy and animal husbandry produces of the State.
The concluding remarks and formal vote of thanks was delivered by Mr. R P Trivedi, CEO, Sun Meditech & Consultancy Former GM – HR Gyan Dairy who appreciated the presence of all the dignitaries who spared their valuable time for this meaningful webinar session.
The Interactive Webinar was well attended by more than 100 participants comprising of Entrepreneurs, Representatives from Food Processing Industry, Government Representatives, Startup Enterprises, Senior Industrialists, policy makers and other stakeholders working in this area.