The Government of India has been consistently encouraging and incentivising increased private sector investment for overall development of food processing sector in the country to promote value addition in agricultural and allied sectors and reduce wastage, Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Prahlad Singh Patel said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today. .
Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) is implementing a Central sector umbrella scheme- Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) since 2016-17 for overall growth and development of food processing sector, mostly through private sector participation. Under the component schemes, MoFPI provides credit linked financial assistance (capital subsidy) in the form of grants-in-aid to entrepreneurs for setting up of food processing and preservation industries with farm level infrastructure like primary processing facilities, collection centers among other related facilities. 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 5791.71 crore, the minister further informed the lower house of the Indian Parliament.
In order to further increase private sector participation in the sector, the Government has taken three major initiatives this year. 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, Patel further said..
Secondly, with a view to extend incentives to the private micro food enterprises, self-help groups (SHGs), farmer producer organisations (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 and 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 crore, he informed the Lok Sabha.
Thirdly, in the budget speech for 2021-2022, Government has announced expansion of scope of “Operation Greens” scheme from tomato, onion and potato (TOP) to 22 perishable products, so as to boost value addition in agriculture and allied products and their exports, the minister added.
