Rs 1,00,000 cr investment seen in food processing by 2015

An investment of Rs 100,000 crore has been envisioned for accelerating growth in the food processing sector by 2015, Parliament was informed today.

This was the target specified in the ministry-prepared vision document for 2015, Union Minister of Food Processing Industries Subodh Kant Sahai said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

Of the total amount, Rs 10,000 crore would come from the government sector, while financial institutions and the private sector would invest Rs 45,000 each, Sahai added.

The minister said that the food processing sector is currently growing at an average rate of 13.5 per cent per annum.

The level of processing had gone up by about 4 per cent from 6 per cent in 2005 to 10 per cent in 2009, and value addition by 6 per cent from 20 per cent to 26 per cent in the same period, he said.

In 2009, the value addition increased by 6 per cent from 20 per cent to 26 per cent. The vision document of the ministry envisages increasing the value addition to 35 per cent by 2015, he added.

There are an estimated 40,000 food processing units in India, of which 1,300 are located in Kerala.