Service for Food Processing Industry

The sector however has to go a long way. Even important is the crucial contribution that an efficient food processing industry could make in the nation`s food security for instance the post-harvest losses of selected Fruits and Vegetables are about 25% to 30% in our country. Even marginal reductions in these losses are bound to give us better returns and thereby improve the income level of the farmers. During the last one decade, India moved from a position of scarcity to surplus in Food. Given the trade in production of food commodities, the Food Processing Industry in India is on an assured track of growth and profitability. It is expected to attract phenomenal investment in capital, human, technological and financial areas. The total food production of India is estimated to double in the next ten years. Hence there is an opportunity for large investments in food and food processing technologies, skills and equipment. The major interventions in this context are, for example, Canning, Dairy and Food Processing, Specialty Processing, Packaging, Frozen Food/Refrigeration and Thermo Processing. Fruits and Vegetables, Fisheries, Milk and Milk Products, Meat and Poultry, Packaged / Convenience Foods, Alcoholic Beverages and Soft Drinks and Grains. Health food and health food supplements are other rapidly rising segments of this industry. The Food Processing Industry sector in India has been accorded high priority by the Government of India, with a number of fiscal relief and incentives, to encourage commercialisation and value addition. With an overall objective of positioning India as the ‘Food Basket’ to the world and aligned with the CII National Agriculture Council, both the CII National Committee on Food Processing and the CII National Task Force on Cold Chain development have been working with the objective of promoting investments, Innovations and Best practices, for the Food processing industry, in line with the ‘Make in India’ initiative on the Government of India.Towards meeting these objectives, CII has been working in close partnership with the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, State Missions on Food Processing, Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), Ministry of Agriculture, National Centre for Cold Chain Development (NCCD) and the National Horticulture Board (NHB). The CII National Committee on Food Processing has been focusing on :

• Promoting exports of processed foods
• Facilitating the Ease of doing business
• Engagement on the Make in India initiative
• Promoting Investments
• Matchmaking of the Technology and the business needs of the industry
• Streamlining the taxation related issues.

Some of the key initiatives of the CII National Food Processing committee include: I. Catalyzing Investments: An important mandate of the Food Processing Committee is to catalyze investments in the creation of post-harvest, marketing and processing infrastructure across value chains II. Research and Capacity Building : Short Term Training Programs with the National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management, Feasibility Report on Post Harvest Value Chain Management and plan for future development of Cold Chain for Mangoes in Andhra Pradesh and a Report on establishing the importance of Food Processing III. Engagement at State level Food Processing Mission: Engagement with State Level Food Processing Missions, to facilitate state level investments and provide hand holding services to local entrepreneurs. An example of this is a recent Feasibility study on Food Processing Project under NMFP on Banana Processing Units in West Bengal. IV. Government Interface: Both the CII National Committee on Food Processing and the Task Force on Cold Chain Development interacted with the Hon’ble Minister and the Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries to highlight industry issues and concerns. In addition, constant interactions with the Government were held on issues like Pre Budget Memorandum, Impact of GST on Food processing Sector, Positioning of Food processing Industry and Viability of Cold Chain Models, among others. V. International Outreach: Engagements with Government and the Industry delegations from overseas. This past year has included delegations from Israel, United Kingdom, Lebanon, New Zealand, Sweden and Japan , with a view to learn the best practices, synergize efforts in technological advancements and identify areas/opportunities for bilateral cooperation. Similarly the CII National Task Force on Cold Chain development is working towards identifying and focusing on specific crops with regard to specific States and develops a model over it with regard to branding and marketing of the crop, both in the domestic and international markets. Food safety is becoming a growing global concern with regulatory regimes worldwide being faced with the challenge of curtailing food safety risks. The CII National Task Force on Food Regulatory Affairs works closely with industry and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), Government of India in the area of Food Regulations. The Task Force facilitates resolution of regulatory issues confronting the food industry, such as the labelling requirements, licensing, product approval etc. for creating a conducive Regulatory Framework.