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World will witness India as leading connoisseur in processing
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Sunday, 16 February, 2025, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Dr Gurjeet Kaur
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India is a land of growing opportunities in all sectors facilitating life on earth. With the diverse population the food requisite is providing business prospects from street food vendors to cuisine served at five-star facilities. In the recent past, processed food has gained stupendous momentum due to its mouth-watering taste, availability, and cost-conscious variations to cater to every class of population. The bioactive molecules present in the food are not just nutritional supplements but essential for sustaining life.
Attractive stats: The startup and established companies have taken it as a business breakthrough and flourished across the globe. This industry claims 14% GDP of India with an expected hike achieving $535 billion in 2025-26. A report from India Brand Equity Foundation states, almost 9 million jobs were created in this sector by 2024. The compounded annual growth rate expansion of India’s food processing sector is 32% of the total food industry.
Key drivers of developing processed food in India: India is a diverse population hub and thus a dream land for market seeking business boons. The demand for processed food gained momentum because of:
Rich agriculture heritage: Agriculture is a key source of income employing 50% of the workforce and contributing 20.2% to the country’s GDP. India is the largest producer of milk, pulses, and spices, the largest area planted for wheat, rice, and cotton. Rated as second-largest producer of fruit, vegetables, tea, farmed fish, cotton, sugarcane, wheat, rice, cotton, and sugar. It holds a respectable place in the world with an expected contribution of $24 billion by this year. The raw agricultural production boosts the food supply chain and opens market avenues.
Varied and profound cultural legacy: Owning one of the oldest cultural legacy, India is an incubator to multi dining cuisines which influences and promotes the food processing industry to market the delicacies across the globe. According to the UN World Migration Report 2024, overseas Indians are approximately 35.42 million demanding the growth of the food processing sector to serve their needs better. The Indian state and religion originated food specialties are available in every corner owing to the growing food processing industry.
Varied class existence: Rise in inequality in income gives rise to different class in India which affects their living standards inclusive of payment for food share. To serve every class and to find market opportunities for each class the food processing industry is also vigilant and sometimes the quality stands compromised.
Urbanisation: It is reported that urbanisation is increasing by 4% with every passing year landing up to around 40% to earn their living. Causes could be many and at the same time it is demanding readymade consumptions for wise time utilisation.
Mounting woman status: A record positive change in the status of women has been observed over the time in India with a score of 0.629 on 0-1 scale as depicted in Global Gender Report of 2022.
No discipline is untouched due to employment opportunities in public and private sectors. Economic independence has given freedom to exploit their ready to eat and eating out trends culture. This has also promoted the food supply chain industry, raw material supply chain including online shopping opportunities values at $7.40 billion in 2024. Delivery apps as Zomato, Swiggy, Uber Eats and foodpanda have gained tremendous popularity.
Food Processing Market: Key players
Names like Nestle India Ltd, Hindustan Unilever Ltd., Kohinoor Foods Ltd., MTR Foods Pvt. Ltd., Parle Agro, Britannia Industries Limited, Hatsun Agro Products, Heritage Foods Limited, KRBL Limited, Kissan, Amul, Sunfeast, Haldiram, LT Food Ltd, and many more names are very familiar for their quality products and enormous supply chain. Each company is a trusted brand and has star products entitled to its name. The companies are known for following strict compliance of objectives laid down by Government.
The varied and enthralling agriculture produce across India due to climatic conditions and versatile cultures provide array of scope to the processed food industry ranging from fruits, vegetables, fisheries, dairy, cereals and state-specific traditional delicacies. Dairy industry has gained impetus to meet the global requirements and Indian brands like Amul Ltd, Kwality Ltd., Parag Milk Foods Ltd, Verka and Mother Dairy, have made successful international commercial partnerships.The innovative approach and technical advancements in food processing has made a niche to serve better. Major challenges in this industry are the shelf life and packaging of the products. To preserve the food fresh and retain its natural essence, and to avoid microbial contamination during the storage, transport and consumption, it is important to select the types of packaging as perforated mediated modified atmosphere packaging, gas packaging, vacuum packaging and aseptic packaging, Anti-microbial packaging, edible packaging, irradiated packaging and so on may be suggested. It is a competitive domain to be overcome for every food processing industry for their survival and strengthen their reputation. The food processing industry is ever flourishing and thriving to serve the demand.
Government Initiatives: A galaxy of star campaigns launched by the Indian Government have raised the bars of food processing industry by attracting US$4.18 billion only in food sector of India as direct foreign investment in a span of six years from April 2014 to March 2020. The ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ (Self Reliant India) and ‘Make in India’ initiatives are complementary to each other promoting prioritising and promoting investment in all the sectors and food industry is no exception. There have been 18 Mega Food Parks developed and to promote the food processing supply chains, 134 cold chain projects have been undertaken giving a rocking kick to the food industry in India. A scheme involving US$1.35 billion was further rolled additionally favouring the industry.
One District One Product: Launched on November 18, 2020, is a successful drive, disseminating district bound product information to the stakeholders and uplifting the SMEs by providing 35% subsidy on credit up to $13.52. On November 21, 2020, $14.52 million was further approved for executing 28 food processing projects. States like Telangana, Chandigarh and Kerala have taken positive notes under this scheme.
‘Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana’: To reduce the food waste and promote the local agri products, $28 million aid was disbursed.
PM Matsya Sampada Yojana aiming investment of Rs 6,000 crore ($729 million) is on the floor to value chain efficiencies contributing to MSMEs, fishermen and corresponding vendors.
A total of $63.35 million was aided to states like Meghalaya, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra under seven food processing projects.
Right from micro level to large scale production harvest or breeding to primary or secondary or tertiary processing, packaging, distribution to retail or food service and finally to consumer requires immense drivers. The international and domestic investors have geared up to exploit every challenge into an opportunity and the world will witness India as a leading connoisseur in food processing industry.
(The author is assistant professor-III, Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow. She can be reached at gkaur@lko.amity.edu)
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