A national mission for food processing

Assocham’s third International Summit cum Exhibition on food processing, agri-business and dairy sector was held in New Delhi on September 14, 2011. In an endeavour to boost its share in the agri-business sector, the government plans to launch a national project for the food processing industries (FPI) during the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2012-17). It was also discussed that the public-private partnership (PPP) is the key to the 12th Five Year Plan objectives for FPI.

The Indian food industry is currently estimated at Rs 8.8 lakh crore and the food processing sector contributes Rs 4.84 lakh crore to it. Industry's contribution is 6.3 per cent towards GDP and 13 per cent to exports, an Assocham study said.