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Kerala has good potential for food-processing: Sahai

Staff Reporter

Oommen Chandy inaugurates Business-To-Business meet

SERIOUS BUSINESS: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Subodh Kant Sahai at the inauguration of the B2B meet in Kochi on Tuesday. Industries Minister V.K. Ebrahim Kunju and Minister for Fisheries Do minic Presentation are also seen. Photo: Mahesh Harilal

KOCHI: The three-day Business-To-Business (B2B) meet, meant to showcase Kerala's small-scale manufacturing sector, got off to a colourful start on Tuesday evening as Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Subodh Kant Sahai projected Kerala as an investment destination for the food-processing industry.

Mr. Sahai said that the Union Government was looking at Rs.1 lakh-crore investment in food processing, even as the country looked to a second Green Revolution. He said that value-addition to agriculture products would be a thrust area. The Un ion Minister referred to the food park and the marine park as examples of the Centre's interest in Kerala's food-processing sector.

He said that about Rs.50,000 crores worth of fruits and vegetables were being wasted in the country due to lack of processing facilities. This offered a big opportunity to would-be investors.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy inaugurated the B2B meet, which is being billed as the single most important opportunity for the State's small-scale industry to advertise their capabilities. Minister for Industries V.K. Ebrahim Kunju; Minister For Fisheries Dominic Presentation and K. Babu, MLA; T. Balakrishnan, Principal Secretary, Industries; T.O. Sooraj, Director, Industries and Commerce, Government of Kerala; Xavier Thomas Kondody, president, Kerala State Small Industries Association; C.P. Jain, president, Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and M.K. Koshy, chairman, CII, Kerala, spoke. The inaugural ceremony was preceded by a display of the cultural traditions of the State, presented in a light-and-sound show and comprised the traditional representations of Kathakali, Theyyam and other art forms.

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