10 projects worth rupees 301.54 Crorerupees with total grant-in-aid of 67.29 Cr were sanctioned in a meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Approval Committee (IMAC) held under the Chairpersonship of Union Food Processing Industries Minister Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal in New Delhi. The projects were sanctioned under the ‘Agro Processing Cluster Scheme’ of KisanSampadaYojana of MoFPI. These projects are likely to generate employment for ten thousand people and benefit nearly forty thousand farmers.
Union FPI Minister said that in the last 15 days, MoFPI has facilitated investments worth 707 Crore rupees. The Government through the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) is making all efforts to encourage investments in the business. 100 percent FDI is permitted under the automatic route in Food Processing Industries and 100 percent FDI is allowed through approval route for trading including e-commerce in respect of food products manufacture and/or produced in India. 100 percent Income Tax exemption from profit derived from activities such as post-harvest value addition to agriculture by FPO’s having annual turnover up to Rs.100 crores.
IMAC approved 8 projects spread over eight districts of Tamil Nadu under the cluster scheme worth 230 Crore rupeesin the meeting held on 4th March 2020. These projects envisage the creation of direct and indirect employment for persons along with employment opportunities in rural areas to be the focus area. These projects are likely to generate employment for around 8000 people and benefit 32000 farmers in that region.
The Ministry expressed satisfaction overproactive approach of Tamil Nadu Government in Food Processing sector as the state has its own dedicated Food Processing policy, policy on FPO’s, contract farming etc, to encourage setting up of food processing industries by agro-entrepreneurs, availing financial assistance from Union government.
The scheme aims at development of modern infrastructure and common facilities to encourage group of entrepreneurs to set up food processing units based on cluster approach by linking groups of producers/ farmers to the processors and markets through well-equipped supply chain with modern infrastructure. The units are set up simultaneously along with creation of common infrastructure.