Achievements of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries

New Delhi, Jan 20, 2015: The Ministry of Food Processing Industries was set up in July, 1988 to give an impetus to development of Food Processing Sector in the Country.

The Ministry is concerned with formulation and implementation of the Policies and Plans for the Food Processing Industries within the overall National Priority and Objectives.

The Ministry has taken a number of initiatives to promote investment in food processing sector.

2. The Hon’ble Minister, while taking over the charge of Ministry on 27.05.2014, conveyed her firm resolution to uplift the lives of farmers by raising their income levels saying “The farmers of this country have been at the forefront in providing security to the nation. Now, their incomes are stagnant.

The time has come to give boost to the income of our farmers through innovative value additions to the farm products”.

3. The status of physical and financial achievements gained in implementing the Schemes of this Ministry during last six months as compared to the corresponding previous period is given in the table below:- (Rs. in crore)

4. A comparative analysis of the achievements of the Schemes is as under:-

(i) Central Sector Scheme of Infrastructure Development .

(a) Mega Food Parks Scheme:

During the period from December 2013 to May 2014, final approval was not given in any case. During the period from June 2014 to December 2014, five (5) Mega Food Parks have been accorded final approval. So far, Government has approved sanctioning of 42 projects. Out of this, 25 projects are presently under implementation. Three projects at Haridwar (Uttarakhand) and Chittoor (Andhra Pradesh), and Tumkur (Karnataka) have already become operational and a number of units have been set up in these Parks. Project at Fazilka in Punjab is going to be operational in December 2014. Further, projects one each in Jangipur in Murshidabad district of West Bengal and Khargone in Madhya Pradesh will be completed by the end of this financial year.

(b) Integrated Cold Chain Scheme:

Under the scheme, seven (7) cold chain projects have been completed from December 2013 to May 2014 and ten (10) projects during the period from June 2014 to December 2014. Funds under this Scheme have been utilized up to 91%.The Ministry has till date sanctioned 112 integrated cold chain projects with a grant of Rs. 935.16 crore and private investment of Rs 1826.11 crore. Out of these, 48 cold chain projects have already been completed and another 20 projects will be commissioned during the current year. So far, 2.46 lakh tonnes of Cold Storage, 84.86 lakh Litres per day milk processing, 330 nos. of Refrigerated Trucks and 59.5 MT per hour of Individual Quick Freezing capacity has been created.

(c) Setting up/Modernisation of Abattoirs:

Two (2) projects have been completed under the scheme during the period from December 2013 to May 2014. The Ministry has further approved 17 abattoir projects during 2013-14. In 2014-15 it is expected that the abattoir at Hyderabad (Telangana) is likely to be completed and the projects at Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Edyar (Kerala) would make substantial progress.

(ii) Centrally Sponsored National Mission on Food Processing (NMFP):

(a) Under NMFP, funds released during December 2013 to May 2014 were Rs.34.99 crore to 12 States and during June 2014 to December 2014 Rs. 94.27 crore was released to 22 States. Release of funds for NMFP has improved phenomenally.

(b) Under Technology Up-gradation component, 471 projects were sanctioned by the States/UT Governments with an amount of Rs. 165.49 crore. The projects sanctioned include bakery, consumer, dairy, fisheries, flour milling, fruits & vegetables, meat products, oil milling, pulse milling, rice milling and wine.

(c) Under cold chain component for non-horticulture products, 28 projects were sanctioned by States/ UT Governments with an amount of Rs. 118.10 crore. The projects include dairy, fisheries, meat and others. 4 Reefer Vehicles (2 horticulture + 2 non- horticulture) were also sanctioned with an amount of Rs. 1.77 crore.

5. Recent Initiatives to Promote Food Processing Industries

In order to provide impetus to the Food Processing Industries, the government has taken the following initiatives-

(i) Decentralisation of the implementation of schemes with active participation of State Governments;

(ii) Launching of Investors’ Portal for promoting investment in Food Processing sector

(iii) Identifying APMC issues affecting food processing for appropriate amendments in APMC Act.

(iv) Enhancing allocation of Infrastructure Development schemes: 42 Mega Food Parks, 138 cold chain projects, 60 abattoirs

(v) Regular interaction with industry and State Governments for activating single window clearance

(vi) Seeking fiscal incentives for the Food Processing industry.

(vii) Excise duty on food processing and packaging machinery reduced from 10% to 6%.

(viii) Special fund of Rs. 2000 crore set up in National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to provide affordable credit to the food processing units to be set up in the designated Food Parks.

(ix) Application Forms of all the Schemes currently being implemented by Ministry of Food Processing Industries has been simplified.

(x) Requirement of supporting documents such as affidavit, agreements etc earlier required to be submitted with the proposal reduced.

(xi) A Food map of India identifying surplus raw material has been prepared and uploaded on the Ministry website. Idea is to identify the surplus and deficient areas in the country of various agricultural and horticultural produce so as to plan processing clusters by means of setting up processing facilities under current schemes.

(xii) Sectoral Skill Council on Food Processing working in Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

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