The government today denied any adverse impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on small units in the processed food sector.
"There is no definitive indication about adverse impact of FDI on the small foood processing units," Food Processing Industries Minister Subodh Kant Sahai told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.
To a question on the impact of FDI on domestic small food processing industries, the minister, however, said "no data is available centrally."
Apart from capital, FDI also brings in state-of-art technology and best managerial practices, thereby, providing better access to the domestic industry to foreign technology and integration into the global market, Sahai added.
He also informed that 141 FDI proposals worth $171.72 million in the processed food sector have been cleared between April 2007 and March 2009.
In a separate reply, he said, though, Rae Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh has been selected for setting up a park in the first phase, the detailed project report (DPR) has not yet been received by the Centre. But in case of mega food parks in Karnataka, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, the union government is examining the DPRs, he added.
Other states where mega food parks would come up include Uttarakhand, Assam, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh and for these states the DPRs have been approved.
