‘Food processing sector critical for economy, jobs’

NEW DELHI: Niti Aayog CEO Parameswaran Iyer on Friday said the food processing sector is critical for the Indian economy as well as job creation and stressed on ramping up production and exports of processed items.

Addressing a CII seminar here, Iyer said there is a need to encourage the MSME sector to enter the food processing sector, which he described as a very important sector for the health of the economy and people.

He underlined that food processing can boost farmers income and also help in achieving nutritional goals.

Iyer said there is a need to augment primary processing at farm level.

Stating that food security has become important in the current global context, he said the government has taken a number of steps in this regard.

The Niti Aayog CEO highlighted that there has been a steady growth in agriculture.

On the food processing front also, Iyer said a number of initiatives have been taken by the government, including the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.

“This is a very, very important program of the government, which is really looking to incentivise investment, but manufacturing in very critical strategic sectors such as food processing,” he added.