India Outlines Food Vision

India’s union minister of food processing industries hopes to overcome bottlenecks in India’s food chain by introducing food processing curriculum in all industrial training institutes in the country this year.

Female entrepreneurs, especially, will be encouraged to take part in courses, focussing on technical knowledge.

As part of the plans, an advanced rice training institute will be set up.

India’s food processing industry is estimated to be worth less than Rs 20,000 crore at the moment, and India accounts for less than 1.5% of global food trade.

Inadequate infrastructure, a lack of testing facilities, inefficient supply chains and high inventory and packaging costs have been blamed for India’s lack of progression in food processing.

To try and boost the industry, the government has announced income tax holidays for producers and others involved in R&D and supply cold chain and is looking to introduce an excise on packaging.