New Delhi, October 6
Describing it as a sunrise industry, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the food processing sector has the potential to dramatically improve rural livelihood opportunities and employment, bridge the rural-urban divide and improve farming methods and practices.
Underlining that India has the potential to emerge as a leader in the international food processing market, the Prime Minister called upon the Indian industry to think big and think globally about the future of the sector.
Inaugurating a conference of state Food Processing Ministers here, the PM noted that most of the country’s large industrial houses have a growing presence in the food processing sector. There was no reason why they should not emerge as global brand names on the lines of the Indian IT industry.
Expressing satisfaction over the fact that the food processing industry in India grew at an impressive rate of 14.7 per cent in 2008-09 despite the economic slowdown, he called for rationalisation and simplification of the tax structure in this sector. “Though primary agricultural commodities are mostly exempted from taxes, processed foods
are subjected to multiple levies. There is, therefore, an urgent need to rationalise and simplify the tax structure.’’
Noting that India ranked first in the production of milk, pulses and tea and second in the production of fruits and vegetables in the world, he regretted that the country’s share in world food trade was less than even 2 per cent. The level of processing in India was extremely low at around 6 per cent compared to 60-80 per cent in developed countries. “There was clearly a very high wastage and very low addition in India, with corresponding loss of business opportunities as well as losses in farm income,” he added.
Manmohan Singh said the government was working sincerely to realise its vision for the food processing industry. It had adopted in 2005 a ‘Vision 2015-Strategy and Action Plan’ to enhance the level of processing of perishables from 6 per cent to 20 per cent, increase value addition from 20 per cent to 35 per cent and to increase India’s share in global food trade from 2 per cent to 3 per cent.
