High level committee approves land for ITC food park

ITC to invest Rs 470 cr on the facility

A high level committee on land allotment to industrial units has decided to provide 30 acres of land to cigarette to FMCG major, ITC Ltd for establishment of a food park at Khurda, the emerging hub for food processing units.

The committee, chaired by the chief secretary, also gave its nod to steel equipment manufacturing facility proposed by SMS India Ltd. The facility is also coming up at Khurda, 28 km from here, and is estimated to cost Rs 250 crore.

"The committee considered 27 new proposals and 22 deferred proposals for land allotment. The major proposals were from ITC and SMS India," said Vishal Dev, chairman cum managing director, Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (Idco), the nodal agency for land acquisition in the state.

The final decision on land allotment will be taken by the government after the committee submits its recommendations. "ITC has already submitted a proposal for setting up a unit to make biscuits and confectionery at the Khurda food park," said a government official. Kolkata-based company is known for its Sunfeast range of biscuits. In the confectionery space, the conglomerate has brands like 'mint-o' and 'Candyman'. ITC is an established player in the packaged food business with brands like 'Aashirvad', 'Delishus' and 'Bingo'. Last year, Indo Nissin Foods Ltd, a subsidiary of Japan based Nissin Foods Holdings, had commissioned its factory with an investment of about Rs 100 crore at Khurda.

Earlier, another behemoth in the packaged food industry- Nestle had evinced interest to set up a state-of-the-art food processing unit in the state at an investment of around Rs 500 crore. Nestle intended to make its entire gamut of products including milk products, beverages, chocolates and confectionery at the proposed facility.

Other packaged food companies like Britannia and Parle Agro are already running their units in the state. The food processing policy of the government aims to promote establishment of units in food parks and mega food parks and increase the flow of investment across the supply chain.