The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Wing to monitor food processing units

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Thursday, Oct 16, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Wing to monitor food processing units

Special Correspondent

The sector will be non-licensing and tax-free: Union Minister

-Photo: G.Krishnaswamy

All smiles: Union Food Processing Minister Subodh Kant Sahay at the inauguration of new office premises in Hyderabad on Wednesday. Also seen are Ministers N. Raghuveera Reddy, Mukesh Goud and J.Geeta Reddy

HYDERABAD: Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Subodh Kant Sahai has said that a regulatory authority to supervise the functioning of food processing units will be established in a couple of months.

The Central government is looking into the technical details of the authority, Mr. Sahai told a meeting of investors in food processing sector here on Wednesday.

The Union Minister said that the Centre had already prepared industry and consumer-friendly law for the sector. It had merged 16 laws to simplify the procedures. “The road for investors is now hassle-free,” he remarked.

Foreign investment

Stating that the sector would be totally non-licensing and tax-free, he said the measure would facilitate free flow of foreign direct investment (FDI), which incidentally, also did not require any licence.

The FDI rose from $ 2.4 million to $ 106.4 million in the last two years. As many as 15 foreign companies were operating in the country.

He said that there was a lot of demand for Indian food abroad. It was a huge market, next only to Information Technology and biotechnology. Moreover, it was not a capital intensive industry.

Food park

Goutam Sanyal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, said the Centre had approved a mega food park at Kuppam in Chittoor district for Rs. 114 crore. It would be one of the ten parks to be launched in the country in the first phase of an interventional programme by the government.

Chittoor was selected for the project because fruits available in the district were amenable to processing throughout the year.

The district produced 19.78 lakh tonnes of fruits and 28.32 lakh tonnes of vegetables annually.

Interacting with investors, the Minister ruled out introduction of Minimum Support Price for fruits, vegetables, fish and poultry on the lines of agricultural products. He said the Centre had not explored the idea.

He inaugurated the office of Maturi Surender Reddy, zonal chairman of the Ministry, at Osmangunj. Ministers N. Raghuveera Reddy, J. Geeta Reddy, M. Mukesh and M. Marreppa were present.

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