There is an effort to take the country’s food processing to the next level amid the global demand for Indian food, food items, organic products, processed fruits and vegetables, marine products and ready to eat mozzarella cheese.
The New Delhi government on Wednesday approved the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the food processing sector, with an outlay of ₹ 10,900 crore.
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the scheme to help expand the food processing capacity by 2026-27 to create 2.5 lakh jobs, boost exports and increase the processed food production to a capacity of Rs 33,494 crore.
Incentives under the scheme will be paid for the six years ending 2026-27.
Giving information to the media about the cabinet decisions, Food Minister Piyush Goyal said, “The PLI has been approved with a ₹ 10,900 crore-incentive for the food processing sector. This decision is a fitting tribute to our farmers.”
He said that there is an effort to take the country’s food processing to the next level amid the global demand to eat Indian foods, foods, organic products, processed fruits and vegetables, marine products and mozzarella cheese.
The government said that the scheme aims to support food manufacturing institutions with minimum sales and who are willing to make minimum stipulated investments for expansion of processing capacity and branding abroad to encourage the emergence of strong Indian brands.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar, who was also present in the briefing, said that in the budget, the government had announced the PLI scheme for 12-13 regions. Already, PLIs have been announced for six regions.
“Today, PLI has been approved for food processing industries,” he said.
According to the government, the first component under the scheme relates to encouraging the manufacturing of four major food product segments: ready-to-cook / ready-to-eat foods, processed fruits and vegetables, marine products and mozzarella cheese.
In these segments, new and organic products of small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) including eggs, poultry meat, egg products also come under the first component.
The second component concerns support for branding and marketing abroad to encourage the emergence of strong Indian brands.
Highlighting the key features of the scheme, Food Processing Industries Secretary Pushpa Subrahmanyam said, “The government will issue an expression of interest (EOI) by the end of April.” The requirement for respondents is to commit to minimum sales and minimum levels of investment for each segment and if they receive both, for incremental sales, a percentage of that amount will be given as a subsidy next year, she said.
The selected applicant will be required to invest in plant and machinery in the first two years in 2021-22 and 2022-23. Investment made in fiscal investment of 2020-21 is counted to meet mandatory investment, the government said in a separate statement.
He said that the minimum sale and mandatory investment conditions selected for making new / organic products will not apply.
The plan aims to support the creation of a global food manufacturing champion, strengthen selected Indian food products for global visibility, and broad acceptance in international markets, as well as increasing employment opportunities for off-farm jobs, as well as agricultural produce And to ensure remuneration value of high income. To the farmers.
On the implementation of the plan, the government said that it would be implemented across the country and would be implemented through a project management agency (PMA).
The plan is “fund-limited” because the cost will be limited to the approved amount. The maximum incentive payable to each beneficiary will be decided in advance at the time of approval of that beneficiary.
The statement said that the scheme would be monitored by a group of secretaries of the center.
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