So far, 792 projects out of a total of 818 projects have been approved for setting up food processing Industries by the private sector with approved Grants in Aid of Rs 5792 Crores.
Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Prahlad Singh Patel said that as part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Initiative, MoFPI is implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for setting up/upgradation of 2 lakh micro food processing enterprises. The enterprises can be set up or upgraded through credit linked subsidy during five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25 with an outlay of Rs. 10,000 crores. In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Patel said, the Central Scheme-PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PMFME) provides financial, technical and business support for these enterprises.
Patel said the ministry has been implementing Central Sector Umbrella Scheme – Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (PMKSY) since 2016-17 for overall growth and development of the food processing sector, including processing of agro-products and thus increasing the income of farmers.
The component schemes of PMKSY are – Mega Food Park, Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure, Creation /Expansion of Food Processing & Preservation Capacities, Infrastructure for Agro-Processing Clusters. Under component schemes of PMKSY, MoFPI provides mostly credit linked financial assistance (capital subsidy) in the form of grants-in-aid to entrepreneurs for setting up of food processing / preservation industries.
So far, 792 projects out of a total of 818 projects have been approved for setting up food processing Industries by the private sector with approved Grants in Aid of Rs 5792 Crores. In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister said, in order to further increase private sector participation in the sector, Government has recently taken three major initiatives.
Firstly, Government has approved the introduction of “Production Linked Incentive scheme” for Food Processing Sector with an outlay of Rs 10,900 Crore to support creation of global food manufacturing champions and support Indian brands of food products in international market.
Secondly, with a view to extend incentives to the private micro food enterprises, Self Help Groups (SHGs), Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and Cooperatives, spread all over the country, MoFPI is implementing centrally sponsored “PM Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises Scheme”.
The scheme aims to provide financial, technical and business support for upgradation/ setting up of two lakh micro food processing units based on One District One Product (ODOP) approach in a period of five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25 with an outlay of Rs. 10,000 crores.
“So far, Ministry has approved 41 Mega Food Parks, 353 cold chain projects, 63 agro processing clusters,
292 food processing units, 63 creation of backward & forward linkages projects and 6 Operation Green projects across the country,” Patel said.
These sanctioned projects are estimated to benefit about 34 lakh farmers on completion. In the evaluation study of Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure Scheme conducted by M/s NABARD Consultancy Limited (NABCONS) in Year 2020, it has been estimated that captive projects under the scheme have resulted in increase in farm-gate prices by 12.38 % and each project is estimated to benefit more than 9500 farmers.
Investment in Food Processing Sector
Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) is implementing a Central Sector scheme – PMKSY for overall growth and development of food processing sector including augmenting the preservation and processing capacity in the sector with off farm employment generation across the country. Total investment leveraged through implementation of the component schemes of PMKSY over the past three years was Rs.7185.48 crore. Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Prahlad Singh Patel gave this information in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.
MoFPI do not compile or maintain data on FDI in Food processing sector. FDI Policy and data is looked after by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry. The details of FDI equity inflow in the food processing sector reported over the past three years was USD 1926.35 million. The state wise information on FDI equity inflows is being compiled only since October 2019.
