The Ministry of Food Processing is executing the central sector umbrella scheme Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (PMKSY), the Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Food Processing Industry (PLISFPI), and the centrally sponsored PM Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme to upsurge the level of the food-processing industry and encourage rural entrepreneurship across the country, including rural areas.
The Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Prahlad Singh Patel, said that the PMFME Scheme provides financial, technical, and business support for setting up or upgrading 2 lakh micro food processing enterprises through credit-linked subsidies over five years, from 2020–21 to 2024–25, with an outlay of Rs. 10,000 crores.
Under the schemes of PMKSY, MoFPI mostly provides financial assistance in the form of grants-in-aid to entrepreneurs for the creation of modern infrastructure and setting up of food processing and preservation industries, including cold chains, with associated infrastructure like primary processing facilities, collection centres, pre-conditioning, pre-cooling, ripening, packing, etc.
The PM Kisan SAMPADA Yojana is a comprehensive package that will result in the development of modern infrastructure as well as efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet. It will not only boost the growth of the food processing sector in the country but also help in providing better returns to farmers and is a big step towards doubling farmers’ income, creating huge employment opportunities, especially in the rural areas, reducing wastage of agricultural produce, increasing the processing level, and enhancing the export of the processed foods.
The Production Linked Incentive Scheme for the Food Processing Industry aims to support food manufacturing entities with specified minimum sales and willing to make specified minimum investments in processing capacity expansion and international branding to encourage the emergence of strong Indian brands. It will also support the creation of global food manufacturing champions, increase employment opportunities for off-farm jobs, ensure remunerative prices for farm produce, and provide higher income to farmers.