Answer:

The Food Processing Industry (FPI) in India is significant due to abundance of food production, presence of diverse agro-climatic regions, large proportion of manpower engaged in agriculture, low cost of processing, labour intensive nature and Its potential to boost exports.

At the same time Government’s initiative to make India a Global Food Factory and Global Food Market brings immense opportunities for food processing sector. Other factors include:

♤ It contributes around 14 per cent of manufacturing GDP, 13 per cent of India’s exports and six per cent of total industrial investment. It is a sunrise industry, with double-digit growth rate globally. It has more than 10% growth rate in India.

♤ A developed FPI can help in achieving favourable terms of trade for Indian agriculture both in the domestic and international markets.

♤ Enhance nation's food security.

♤ It will help farmers get better prices for their produce, thus improving their income levels. It will stabilise prices by creating an assured demand for agricultural produce. It will also eliminate undue advantage currently accruing to middlemen at the cost of farmer’s remuneration.

♤ It will lead to efficient utilization of food resources of the country. India witnesses nearly 4-18% wastage in fruits and vegetables annually, due to lack of modern harvesting technologies and cold chain infrastructure. The wastage levels in other perishables are also significantly high.

♤ It will help develop vital linkages between the two pillars of our economy- industry and agriculture.

♤ Huge potential for skilled and semi skilled employment generation. However the sector faces a number of challenges: