April 9, 2021
To help farmers earn better prices and reduce crop wastage the Indian government has sanctioned a ₹10,900 crore-production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for its food processing industry.
This scheme will create jobs for 250,000 people and attract investments from global and domestic companies in the food processing sector. It will also help increase the food processing capacity to generate processed food output worth ₹33,494 crore by 2026-27, the government said.
The scheme was approved by the Union cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will run over six years through 2026-27.
The objectives of the scheme are to support food manufacturing entities with stipulated minimum sales and willing to make minimum stipulated investment for expansion of processing capacity and branding abroad to incentivize emergence of strong Indian brands.
The scheme will be a “game changer in boosting food processing investments, agri-exports, farmer incomes and in building Indian brands for the global market. Some of the products identified for providing support are ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat foods, processed fruits and vegetables, marine products and mozzarella cheese.