Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Friday urged states to reduce power tariff for the industry, especially cold chain units, and bring it at par with the agriculture sector.
The minister chaired the second series of Food Processing Edition of Exclusive Investment Forum by Invest India, the national investment promotion and facilitation agency of the government, an official statement said.
The forum witnessed participation of senior most policymakers from the Centre and six state governments -- Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Besides, 193 companies from 19 countries participated in the forum.
Badal said the nationwide coronavirus lockdown was successful due to the government's effort to make essentials especially food available at every corner of the country.
She complemented the food industry for its efforts despite challenges such as fall in trade, unavailability of required number of workers and wastage of perishables.
Badal said these challenges have to be converted into opportunities by establishing a new normal in the food industry.
She urged all participants to follow the clarion call of the Prime Minister to become 'Atma Nirbhar' (self-reliant) and 'be vocal for local'.
The minister also said the food processing industry should work at its full potential as global companies are looking to source products from India.
Badal advised all investors to look at the low-hanging ready-to-eat (RTE) segment as a potential opportunity.
She also said superfoods of India need to be highlighted to the western world.
Badal advised states to share the most popular and nutritious local food which could be branded and marketed through big retailers in foreign countries to target the Indian diaspora.
"Union Minister urged the states to reduce power rates for food processing industry, specifically cold chain units, at par with agricultural rates," the statement said.
The minister also talked about the importance of modern technology for creating an aggregation portal at the national level for monitoring pan-India inventory of agri-food products. This could be helpful in catering to both domestic and global demand, she added.
Badal also informed the forum about the ministry's new scheme to be launched on June 29 to formalise the micro food processing enterprises, which would support them in accessing the latest know-how, affordable credit as well as new markets.
Minister of State for Food Processing Rameswar Teli said the central and state governments are taking strong policy decisions for all investors to take advantage of increasing growth opportunities in the Indian food processing sector.
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