Food processing ministry to take up concern on GST with Council: Paswan

Seeking to promote the food processing sector, the Centre on Thursday held consultation with more than 100 senior executives of food companies to understand the problems faced by them related to ease of doing business, imports, GST rates and misconceptions about processed food items.

During the meeting, food companies demanded reduction in GST rates of many food items.

A high-level CEO roundtable, under the co-chairpersonship of Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Food Processing Industries Minister Chirag Paswan, was organized as part of World Food India 2024 event being held during September 19-22 in the national capital.

It laid "focus on promoting investment and enhancing Ease of Doing Business and was attended by over 100 CXOs," an official statement said.

Speaking on the sidelines of this meeting, Paswan said, "the objective of this CEO roundtable was to provide a platform to industry representatives of food companies to put forward their concerns and suggestions in front of the government".

There were open interactions between the industry representatives and the government officials to understand challenges faced by the industry and the suggestions they have on those issues.

Paswan stressed on the need to promote the food processing sector at state-level in order to ensure that India becomes a global hub for food products.

To achieve this objective, he said, "we wanted to understand the various challenges, be it related to ease of doing business, taxation and misleading advertisements. We had a frank discussion on these issues. Solutions were also found for some of the issues."

Paswan said there are some concerns related to GST rates and his ministry would take up those concerns with the GST Council. "The final decision will be taken by the council".

The roundtable was also graced by the presence of Minister of State for Food Processing Ravneet Singh Bittu, T G Bharath, Minister of Industries and Commerce, Andhra Pradesh and Raghavji Patel, Minister of Agriculture, Gujarat. Senior officials from various Ministries of Government of India and State Governments were also present.

According to sources, the players discussed issues ranging over maximum residue limit (MRL), issues related to Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme in the food industry, ease of doing business in the sector etc.

Some players also raised concerns over the export of 'maida' (refined flour). Though export of wheat is banned in the country, some traders are exporting 'maida' made from wheat.

One of the players also raised the issue of inverted-duty structure and suggested making PLI schemes in accordance with global realities.