French delegation offers sound technologies, best practices

The Hyderabad roadshow was the last leg of the French delegates' visit to India. Earlier, they visited Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore and Mumbai and interacted with the local agro and food processing industry.

The speakers at the meet underscored the role of value-added products, an integrated food supply chain and growth of organised retailing in boosting the food industry in the country.

Welcoming the gathering C Parthasarathy, chairman of AP state council of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said that a large-scale organised retailing could boost the fortunes of the country's food industry.

Stating that convenience and value-addition were the main reasons for the growth of organised retail store chains, he said that the French food technology could greatly help the domestic industry move up the value chain and increase exports.

SSR Koteswara Rao, president of Fapcci, said that as the country became self-sufficient in the food sector, it was time it went in for value addition to augment exports. Though exports were growing in the food segment, there was a vast scope for growth, he said and called upon the domestic industry to source superior technology and machinery to produce value-added products.

Xavier Bertrand, a representative of the French Trade Commission, Mumbai, said that the bilateral trade between India and France was Rs 14,500 crore. Of this only 10 per cent accrued from the food sector. He said his country had sound technologies and best practices in the agro and food processing industries and called for collaborations with the Indian industry.

GV Krishnan, the general manager of Food World, Hyderabad, spoke on the changing dimensions of Indian food retail industry and the business opportunities for French companies in India. Krishnan said that the government could help boost the food industry's growth by encouraging organised retailing chains.

Earlier, inaugurating the meet, PM Kuriakose, managing director of Andhra Pradesh Dairy Development Co-operative Federation Limited, said the dairy sector was poised for a spectacular growth in the country, with India already being the largest producer of milk and milk products in the world.

During the last financial year, the country produced 85 million tonnes of milk and milk products. This year, the production was likely to rise to 86 million tonnes. The global milk production was 614 million tonnes in 2002-03.

In India, Uttar Pradesh is the largest milk producing state, accounting for 15,277 million litres in 2002-03. Andhra Pradesh stood at eighth position with 4,761 million litres.

However, in terms of milk procurement of cooperatives in the country, the state was ranked fifth. The co-operatives in the state procured 372 million litres during the year.

Despite building an integrated food supply chain with forward and backward linkages, there still existed numerous challenges to the country's dairy industry abroad. Most of the developed countries are regulating their dairy industry through various methods like high subsidies, restrictions on imports and price support to stimulate exports.

The AP Dairy managing director said the strategies for rapid development of dairy industry should include development of a dairy value chain and appropriate policy initiatives and institutional support.

The dairy value chain should focus on increasing milk supply, improving quality of milk, innovative processing and packaging technology and developing new products. Policy initiatives should target autonomy and professional management of co-operatives, private investments and research development, he said.