FDI in food processing touches USD 1-bn mark this year: Badal

The foreign direct investment (FDI) in the food processing sector has already touched the USD 1-billion mark so far this year, Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said Tuesday.

"When we took over the government in 2014, FDI in the food processing sector used to be USD 500 million every year. This year, we touched USD 1-billion mark. This is a tip of the iceberg, we have to go a long way," Badal said addressing the CII event on post harvest and logistics.

According to official data, FDI in the food processing sector was USD 904.9 million in the 2017-18 fiscal, while it stood at USD 727.22 million, USD 505.88 million and USD 515.86 million in 2016-17, 2015-16 and 2014-15, respectively.

The FDI in multi-brand retail was allowed keeping in mind the need to boost food processing level and provide an alternative market to farmers to sell their produce, she said.

The focus was to see retailers directly procure farm produce from farmers. "I am happy to see companies like Metro and Walmart are keen to tie up directly with farmers."
About USD 14 billion that was committed during the World Food India 2017 for next few years, the minister said, "I am happy to share that 70 per cent of the projects have already started the grounding."
Talking about domestic investment, National Rainfed Area Authority (NREA) CEO Ashok Dalwai said, "We have seen that the captive investment in agriculture, which is pre-requisite for any kind of accelerated growth, has not really happened through the corporate sector."