Government to invite bids to create NBFC for food processing sector

Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Tuesday said that the Request for Proposal (RFP) to set up a non-banking financial company (NBFC), which will cater to credit and lending needs of the food processing sector, will be issued this month.

The ministry will create an initial corpus of Rs 2,000 crore for the NBFC that will be operational by this year-end, Badal told reporters on the sidelines of a report launch.

"RFP should be out hopefully this month. Many international big funds have approached us and they are interested in it. I am hoping that we will be able to make a consortium of banks, which will come together to put in funds for this financial institution," Badal said.

"It will not just only lend to the food processing sector but will also work towards risk assessment, capacity building, reducing food wastage, education, research and development."

Badal said some part of the funds can be used for research and development in the wake of rising food demand with increase in the population.

Earlier, Badal launched the 'Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) Report on Fixing Asia's Food System', sponsored by Cargill.

During the report launch event, Badal said India has the capacity to become the food factory of the world but it is yet to achieve the yield potential of crops.

NITI Aayog Member Prof. Ramesh Chand, FSSAI Chief Management Services Officer Madhavi Das, Nestle India Managing Director Chairman Suresh Narayanan and Walmart India Chief Executive Officer Krish Iyer and Cargill India Chairman Siraj Chaudhry shared their perspectives on the issue in a panel discussion.--IANS

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