New Delhi, 18 (ANI): Story: India's food and hospitality sector is poised for a huge growth. The Indian food market is expected to touch 482 billion USD by 2020, whereas the hospitality sector is considered a major attraction for FDI with the compound annual growth rate of 14 percent.
The 31st edition of the International Food and Hospitality Fair, AAHAR 2016, was recently organized at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi.
The fair assumed significance, since in the recent Budget, the government gave special focus to the farm sector and decided to allow up to 100 percent FDI in marketing of food items produced and manufactured locally.
Over 800 exhibitors, along with new and young entrepreneurs, took part in the mega 5-day long exhibition.
Opening new avenues of investment for global investors, the fair featured the Government of India's famed initiatives like start-up India, Skill India, Make In India and many others.
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CHENOY, participant from Hyderabad, said "This Make In India concept is the initiative that we taken this time after PM Modi started this campaign a year back. We thought we should also take the initiative and then we finally we come out with this masterpiece. This is a lion which is made out of only chocolate and nothing else is used in this. We have used around 70kg of chocolate just to promote make in India concept."
In order to promote food processing industries, the Government of India took several initiatives to exploit the potential of domestic and international market for processed food products. Some of the major initiatives include inauguration of the first of its kind Rs. 136 crore mega international food park at Dabwala Kalan in Punjab, in the Budget 2015-16, a corpus of Rs. 2,000 crore (300 million USD) was created under National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to provide cheaper credit to food processing industry.
In the AAHAR fair, 2016, as many as 70 overseas participants from 17 countries showcased food products, beverages, ingredients and much more.
Participant from Poland added, "We are looking for customers. We would like to promote our technology and products in the territory of India and we know that India is rapidly growing and we will use both India possibility and development both. We would like to sell products for Indian customers."
The mega food and hospitality fair attracted top businessmen, industrialists and organisations from the food processing and hospitality sector.
GAJANAN, participant from Indore, said: "I had heard of this trade fair before and this is the first time that I have participated here. Though, it is the first date but the public response is very good and we hope in the coming days the response will be better. I believe that small scale companies should participate in such fairs as this is a very good opportunity for them."
AARTI GUPTA, further said, "It is a very good place for food industry people to come over here and explore".
India has location advantage as it is geographically close to key export destinations like Middle East and South East Asia.
Moreover, greater momentum from the top echelons of the government and improvements in product and packaging quality, along with private sector participation, pave the way for India's growth story.