Food processing needs investments and exemptions: Rasna Chief

The food processing industry requires public and private investments for creating food parks, logistics and warehouses, Rasna Chairman Piruz Khambatta said on the sidelines of 'Make in India Week' in Mumbai. The government should offer exemptions and create infrastructure for encouraging the investments, he added.

"The investments from the public sector are also needed for the food processing industry, in addition to the tax exemptions. The agriculture and food processing sectors need to be treated on par," he added.

Khambatta was named ambassador of the government's 'Make in India' initiative recently.

Khambatta said creation of logistics and warehousing facilities for agricultural products and processed foods is a necessity. "The government has announced the privatisation of the silos. I think more and more of those need to happen," he noted.

"We need to get out of the old apathy. It is happening. The India Food Park created by Kishore Biyani in Bengaluru is quite a state-of-the-art facility. Similarly, there is another park in Andhra Pradesh," he added.

At the 110-acre food park located on the outskirts of Bangalore, Biyani created multi-temperature cold storage facilities that will handle multiple commodities like bananas, mangoes, apples and so on in the last year. India has the notorious distinction of having the highest, ever increasing spoilage in food grains chain - wheat and rice - and perishable fresh produce.

In 10 years until 2007, 1.83 lakh tonne (LT) of wheat, 6.33 LT of rice and 2.20 LT of paddy were wasted. The supply chain problem has become chronic and serious in the country.