India’s Share In Global Trade Of Processed Food Negligible: Devendra Kumar Singh, Chairman, APEDA
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In accordance with the provision of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (MSMED) Act, 2006, the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) are classified into manufacturing and service enterprises. The MSME sector has emerged as a vibrant and dynamic sector of the Indian economy, and their importance in Food Processing can be seen because the sector is highly labour absorptive and less capital intensive, it facilitates better farm incomes and higher rural growth, can play a key role in addressing inflation, can help reduce wastage along the agricultural value chain, can tap into the vast potential of self-help groups and MSMEs in food processing can fuel value-added exports.
At World Food India 2017, there was a session on “MSME Food Processing Sector: Global Opportunities” where the above dimensions were discussed. Dr Subodh Jindal, Managing Director, Excelsior Food and Chemical Industries and President, All India Food Processors’ Association gave the introductory remarks saying, “Creating a synergy between Indian entrepreneurs who have committed themselves to facilitate the growth of the country is important especially in the MSME sector. Even 70 years, there was a sector of entrepreneurs working in making food and is now the backbone of food production in India which caters to the needs of the population of the country. We have a younger generation with wonderful ideas, they are innovative, and they think of fusion and are enthusiastic. We have to see how this potential can be harnessed into making India a future food supplier of the world.”
“Natural endowments are in favour of the Agro-Food Sector in India. We rank No. 1 or No 2 in most agri-produce, which is something to be proud of. There are a plethora of segmental opportunities in this sector. Another field of potential for investment from a foreign company or Indian financial company in plant equipment, cold chain storage and so on. I would like to invite everyone for ‘make-in-India’ which is a win-win business proposition for the food processing industry. India’s latent potential is in its tremendous diversity and abundance of raw material. We need to look at the scope of investment by global companies in the food production and service chain”, added Dr Jindal.
“There are various facilitation agencies to transform the food economy, so it is important to work together and think together to take this forward in our country”, concluded Dr Jindal. Devendra Kumar Singh, Chairman- Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said, “There is a lot of export potential of the processed foods sector. There are more than 700 product lines in APEDA. The present size of exports is USD 35 to 36 billion. APEDA products have a major contribution to this amount. 25% of this is accounted for by processed foods. The food processing industry in India ranks 5th in terms of production, consumption and exports, with a size of USD 258 billion in India and contributes to 8% of the Indian GDP.”
He also added, “The global trade of processed food is USD 766.52 billion, out of which India constitutes only USD 9.34 billion, a negligible 1.22%. We have very less surplus of milk to export after consumption, despite being the biggest milk producer. Natural honey also has tremendous potential. To increase our share, we must have innovative products, adoption of new technology, packaging and quality control, branding, marketing and adherence to the quality standards to meet the global standards on food products” Singh also added, “APEDA will help in the infrastructure development, quality development and innovation support and market development. Adoption of technology is slow, we are slow to respond despite availability. We are working towards clustered consolidation of products, thus development of food products in clusters”
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