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The share of higher value processed food products in India’s agricultural goods export basket has increased substantially from 13.7 per cent in 2014-15 to 23.4 per cent in 2023-24 leading to higher farm incomes and creating more jobs, according to a year-end report of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries released on Friday.  

The food processing sector plays an important role in increasing farm income and creating off-farm jobs, reducing post-harvest losses in agriculture and allied sector production through on- and off-farm investments in preservation and processing infrastructure.

The food processing sector is one of the largest employment providers in the organised manufacturing sector with 12.41 per cent employment in the total organised sector, as per the report of the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI), 2022-23.

“The Ministry of Food Processing Industries has undertaken several initiatives to give impetus to the development of the food processing sector in the country and has made significant achievements in its schemes during the year of 2024,” the report states.

Since January 2024, a total of 46,643 loans have been sanctioned under the credit-linked subsidy component of the Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PMFME). An amount of Rs 254.87 crore has been sanctioned as seed capital assistance to 71,714 Self Help Group (SHGs) members, the report points out.

The Central Government has made a budgetary allocation of Rs 3,290 crore to the Ministry for the development of the Food Processing Sector in the Year 2024-25, which marks an increase of about 30.19 per cent from the Revised Estimate of Rs 2,527.06 crore in 2023-24.

The Gross Value Added (GVA) in the food processing sector has increased from Rs 1.34 lakh crore in 2014-15 to Rs 1.92 lakh crore in 2022-23. The sector has attracted $6.793 billion FDI equity inflow during April 2014-March 2024.

Other schemes that benefit the sector include the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) which was approved with an allocation of Rs 6,000 crore for the period 2016-20 (extended to 2020-21) which is now being continued with a further allocation of Rs 5,520 crore.

Since January 2024, 143 projects have been approved under various component schemes of PMKSY and 69 projects have been operational resulting in processing & preservation capacity of 14.41 Lakh MT. The approved projects, on their operationalisation, are expected to leverage investment of Rs 2303.24 crore benefiting about 3.53 lakh farmers and are expected to result in more than 0.57 lakh direct and indirect employment.

In all, so far, 1646 projects have been approved under various component schemes of PMKSY, since their respective dates of launch. Out of these, 1087 projects have been operational resulting in processing & preservation capacity of 241.94 Lakh MT. The approved projects, on their operationalisation, are expected to leverage investment of Rs 22778.60 crore benefiting about 51 lakh farmers and are expected to result in more than 7.46 lakh direct and indirect employment.

A total of 171 proposals under different categories of the Production Linked Incentive Scheme for the Food Processing Sector (PLISFPI) have also been approved. Total investment to the tune of Rs 8910 crore has so far been reported under the scheme, reportedly generating employment opportunities of 2.89 lakh. Total incentives to the tune of Rs 1084.011 crore have so far been disbursed under 85 eligible cases, the report added.