The Indian Food Processing and Beverages Industry experts on Wednesday maintained that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious Make in India Intiative has immensely boosted the prospects of Indian food processing and beverages industry. It has opened up a plethora of unique opportunities for entrepreneurs and businessmen including foreign investors to foray in the lucrative Indian food processing sector poised to witness more than double digit growth in the near future, they said.
The experts were addressing a well attended Conclave on “Food Processing Industry: Opportunities and Challenges” as a part of 6th Food and Bev Tech 2016 organised by the premiere Confederation of Indian Industry (Western Region) at Hyatt Regency Convention Centre on Wednesday. The focus of the conference and exhibition is aimed at promoting the Indian food processing industry at global scale.
Mr Piruz Khambatta, Chairman, Food and Bev Tech 2016 and Chairman, Rasna Private Ltd said that the industry was steering ahead with rapid advances being made in the field of information technology and international best practices being incorporated as a part of expertise introduced by the companies. Stressing the need for the growth of the sector, he said “A developed food processing industry will reduce wastages, ensure more value addition and generate additional employment opportunities. Besides, export earnings will increase and it will lead to better socio-economic condition of farmers and their families”, he added.
He further added that an expansion in the food processing industry would increase the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Indian Agricultural sector in return. “We suggest that moderate and less GST must be levied on the products so that common man can buy quality food products at the most affordable rates. Besides, we feel that an ordinary farmer must directly sell his raw material to the industry at the right price instead of going through a middleman like Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC)”, he added.
Mr Khambatta also added that the archaic regulation laws including labeling laws must pave way for liberal laws aimed at promoting the industry to the next level. Surakshit Khadya Abhiyan Chairman Mr S. Dave in his special address harped on the importance of food as an important ingredient which according to him has to be accounted for in the value chain of food processing. “We need to create greater awareness about food safety and need to implement good hygiene and manufacturing practices across all food manufacturers”, he added. Mr Ashwini Malhotra, Co Chairman, Food and Bev Tech 2016 and Mananging Director, Weikfield Foods Pvt Ltd made a passionate plea that traditional farming must give way tio for to organic farming and said tremendous opportunities were opening in the field of manufacturing organic products. He urged the new start ups and entrepreneurs to take a fresh look at organic farming
The conference is a part of the CII’s initiative to reach out to the tier – II cities like Pune. Government of Chhattisgarh is the partner state for the event and the exhibition. Other government agencies like NABARD and APEDA have also supporting the event. The Food & Bev Tech event witnessed exhibitors and visitors from the food processing industry covering areas like – Machinery & Process Equipment’s, Refrigeration, Automation Process Control, Packaging, Logistics & Food Safety Technologies etc. The speakers at the conference included senior industry members from the food industry, regulatory experts and other stakeholders from the sector.
