India Invites French Companies In Agri Sector

India has invited French agro-processing companies to set up joint ventures in the food parks being set up in the country. They can also source products from India for export to other countries.

The French companies can provide investment as well as technical know-how, agriculture minister Ajit Singh said at the Indo-French seminar cum buyer-seller meet on agriculture and food processing industries organised, here, today by the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

Singh said the areas where India needed strategic relationship with French companies are technology to add value to food products at reasonable costs; infrastructure development for post-harvest handling of food products; cold chain; packaging for processed food to improve shelf life and ensure safety; human resource development in the fields of food safety and quality; technical assistance for upgradation of traditional food technologies, etc. The French can also enter the fields of winery, dairy, marine, meat and poultry processing, he added.

He informed the French delegation headed by their agriculture and fisheries minister Jean Glavany that automatic approval is granted here for foreign investment upto 100 per cent of the equity except in few cases. Foreign investment in export-oriented units is permitted even in the items reserved for the small scale sector. Besides, the export-oriented units are given a number of incentives and concessions such as duty free import of capital goods, raw materials and intermediates. Export earnings are exempt from corporate tax.

Speaking at the seminar, Glavany said France is the European Union