Home General PM Shri Narendra Modi inaugurates World Food India 2017

PM Shri Narendra Modi inaugurates World Food India 2017

November 4, 2017

India showcased as the preferred
Investment destination in Food Processing Sector

PM launches Nivesh
Bandhu – Investors’ Portal

PM also releases Commemorative Stamp on Indian
Cuisines & Publications to help Food Processing Sector Investors to make
informed decisions

India Ready for
Revolutionising Food Processing Sector: Smt Harsimrat Kaur Badal

Global CEOs Hail
India’s Structural Reforms and Improvement of India’s Ranking in Ease of Doing
business

13 MoUs
worth Rs 68,000 crore signed on the inaugural day of World Food India 2017

The Prime
Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, inaugurated World Food India 2017, at Vigyan
Bhavan in NewDelhi today. The three day mega event has been put together at the
Initiative of Ministry of Food Processing Industries under the able guidance of
Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Smt Harsimrat Kaur Badal. President
of Armenia H.E. Mr. Serzh Sargsyan, Prime Minister
of Latvia H.E. Mr. Maris Kucinskis, Dy. Minister for Economic Development,
Italy; Mr. Peter Bleser, Vice Minister, Federal Ministry for Food and
agriculture, Germany; Mr. Esben Lunde Larsen, Minister of Environment and Food,
Denmark were present on the
occasion. Mr. Paul Bulcke, Chairman of the Board
of Directors, Nestle SA; Ms Amanda Sourry, Global President of Foods, Unilever;
Mr. Pieter Boone, CEO, Metro AG &CEO, Metro Cash and Carry; Mr. Noel Tata,
Chairman, Trent Ltd. & MD, Tata International; Chief Ministers of Andhra
Pradesh; Chhatisgarh and MOS MoFPI Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti also joined in the
inaugural function.

To mark the historic World Food Convention
hosted for the first time by India, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched
– Nivesh Bandhu – ( http://foodprocessingindia.co.in/)

the
unique portal or “investor’s friend”. The portal will help bring
together information on central and State Government Policies, and incentives
provided for the food-processing sector. The portal maps resources upto the
local level, with processing requirements. It is also a platform for business
networking, for Farmers, processors, traders, and logistics operators. Seven publications of Ministry of Food
Processing Industries which will help investors in Food Processing Sector in
making informed decisions have been included in the portal. The Prime Minister
also released a Coffee table book and commemorative stamp on Indian Cuisines.

The Prime Minister highlighted India’s
diverse strengths in agriculture. He said “The second largest arable land area,
and as many as 127 diverse agro-climatic zones, give us global Leadership in a
number of crops like bananas, mangoes, guavas, papayas, and okra. We are
second, globally, in terms of production of rice, wheat, fish, fruits and
vegetables. India is also the world’s biggest milk producer. Our horticulture
sector has shown an average growth rate of 5.5 per cent annually over the last
ten years.”

Shri Modi recounted that for
centuries, India has welcomed traders from distant lands, who came in search of
our distinctive spices. He pointed out “Food processing is a way of life
in India. It has been practiced for ages, even in the humblest of households.
Simple, home-based techniques, such as fermentation, have
resulted in the creation of our famous pickles, papads, chutneys and murabbas
that now excite both the elite and the masses, across the world.”

Showcasing the big picture, PM said
India is today one of the fastest growing economies of the world. The Goods and
Services Tax has eliminated the multiplicity of taxes. India has jumped thirty
ranks this year, in the World Bank Doing Business rankings – the highest ever
improvement for India, and the highest jump for any country this year. India
was ranked number one in the world in 2016 in greenfield investment. India is
also rapidly progressing on the Global Innovation Index, Global Logistics Index
and Global Competitiveness Index. He eMphasised that starting a new business in
India is now easier than ever before. Procedures for obtaining clearances from
various agencies have been simplified. Archaic laws have been repealed, and
the burden of compliances has been reduced.

PM noted that Private Sector
participation has been increasing in many segments of the value chain. However,
more investment is required in contract farming, raw material sourcing and
creating agri linkages. Many international companies in India have taken a lead
in contract farming initiatives. Shri Modi pointed out that there exists a
clear opportunity for global super-Market chains considering India as a major
outsourcing hub.

PM added that “The combination of
traditional Indian food, with modern Technology, processing and packaging, can
help the world rediscover the health benefits, and refreshing taste of Indian
food ingredients such as turmeric, ginger,
and tulsi, to name just a few. The perfect blend of hygienic, nutritious and
tasty processed food, with the added benefits of preventive Healthcare, can be
produced economically in India.”

After the inaugural, the Prime Minister visited
the exhibition area – the
specially curated Food Street by Chef Sanjeev Kapoor. Food Street is a lively
vibrant zone to showcase Indian and foreign cuisines using Indian ingredients,
flavours and fragrances. An exhibition spread over 40,000 sq mtrs in lawns of
India Gate has been mounted where more than 800 global companies representing
22 Countries & domestic companies are exhibiting their stregths in Food
Processing sector. Ministry of Food Processing Industries’ Theme Pavilion
provides an overview of India’s offering to the world in terms of products, geo
mapping of produce availability and mega food parks.

Union Minister for Food Processing
Industries, Smt Harsimrat Kaur Badal noted that today is a historic day where
1st Mega Food Event is launched in India. World Food India brings together 7000
stakeholders from 60 countries, 75 International & National Policy Makers
and Heads of State, 60 Global CEOs and 100 Indian CEOs; 5000 B2B meetings over
the course of three days. Smt Badal said that her Ministry of Food Processing
Industries is committed to help and handhold companies to help farmers double
their income and transform India’s farm Economy. She
elaborated that the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana, has been recently
launched to create world-class food processing Infrastructure to leverage
investment of five billion US dollars, to benefit two million farmers and
generate more than half a million jobs over the next three years. Creation of
Mega Food Parks is a key component of this scheme. These food parks will help
link agro-processing clusters with key production centres. Nine such parks are
already operational, and more than thirty others are in the process of coming
up across the country.

The participating Global CEOs congratulated
the Prime Minister for undertaking significant structural reforms like GST and
the impressive improvement recorded by India in the Ease of Doing Business
rankings. Germany, Japan and Denmark are Partner
Countries to World Food India whereas Italy & Netherlands are Focus
Countries. They were represented by H.E Mr Kenji Hiramatsu, Ambassador of Japan
to India; H.E Mr Peter Taksøe-Jensen, Ambassador of Denmark to India; H.E Mr
Alphonsus Stoelinga, Ambassador of Netherlands to India; H.E. Lorenzo Angeloni,
Ambassador of Italy to India who expressed keenness to deepen their investment
commitment to India, to enable mutual exchange of Best practices, technology
and to be a part of the revolution in the food processing Industry which will
take place in India.

In
a specially organised session showcasing India as the preferred Investment
Destination for the food processing sector, the Union Finance and Corporate
Affairs Minister Shri Arun Jaitley spelt out the transformational initiatives
undertaken by the Government of India in the last three years. “Food Processing
is a priority sector’’ said Shri Jaitley where 100% FDI, is now permitted, for
trading, including through E-commerce, of Food Products manufactured or
produced in India. Exclusive separate
CEOs roundtables were also held during the day with Prime Minister
and finance Minister.

The
inaugural day of World Food India 2017 saw signing of 13 MoUs worth Rs 68,000
crore. The MoUs were signed in the presence of Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union
Minister for Food Processing industries, Government of India. The companies who
signed an MoU signalling their intent and seriousness about India included
PepsiCo which signed an MoU worth Rs 13,300 crores for setting up a Food and
Beverage plant, Coca Cola for investing Rs. 11,000 crore in juice bottling
infrastructure and fruit processing plants and equipment; ITC and Patanjali who
committed to investing Rs 10,000 crore each in the sector. Other MoUs signed
included Amazon in food retail business, Sharaf Group of UAE for Farm produce,
collection, processing and Export; YES Bank for financing food processing
projects across the sector. Commenting on the MoUs, the Union Minister for Food
Processing Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal stated, “The Govt has been
successful in generating tremendous interest among global and Indian food
companies in investing in this sector. These investments will help us realise
the goal of doubling farmers‘ income as well as generating massive employment
in the food processing sector. “