Days ahead of the upcoming World Food India event, the Odisha government today sought investments in the state's food processing sector, citing a slew of incentives for businesses.
The World Food India (WFI) is being organised by the Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries from November 3-5 in the national capital to facilitate partnerships between Indian and international businesses and investors.
About 26 states are participating in the mega event and Odisha is a partner and Italy and Japan are partner nations, L N Gupta, Additional Chief Secretary, MSME Department of Odisha, said at a conference two days ahead of the mega event.
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"I am proud to tell you there will be more than 2,000 participants and as per latest information over 300 have registered from Odisha itself, 50 plus global CEOs will be participating from around 20 countries," he said.
Around 300 participants from the food and processing sector is not a small number, it clearly shows how Odisha is growing rapidly, Gupta said.
The state's food processing sector provides a lot of opportunities to all three small, medium and large industries.
The investors must understand that all the produce be it vegetables, fruits, herbs, sea food serve as raw materials for the food processing industry, he said.
Highlighting that the food processing sector is among the the six focus sectors of the state government, he assured that there will be no shortage of raw materials and asked them to invest in the state.
However, he did not elaborate on the amount of investment that the state will manage to attract but was confident of huge investments proposals.
The state's food processing sector has attracted investments worth Rs 3,196 crore in last years, he informed.
"With 10 diverse agro-climatic zones and a 480 km long coastline, Odisha, with rice production of 98.7 lakh tonnes, is the 6th largest producer of rice, with 100 lakh tonnes, it is fourth largest producer of vegetables," the senior official said.
He further said investors keen on investing in sea food must know that Odisha is the fourth largest producer of shrimp at 6 lakh tonnes and it is the ninth largest producer of fish.
Besides, the state is the third largest producer of cashew and major producer of coconut, oilseeds, potato, corn, chilly, ginger, turmeric, etc.
After talking about the resources available, the official spoke about the fiscal benefits and ready-made infrastructure being provided to the investors.
"Odisha is one of the few states which has a dedicated Food Processing Policy 2016. The state is giving various fiscal benefits like a Capital Investment Subsidy (CIS) of up to Rs 5 crore and up to 1 crore for Human Resource Development (HRD)," he said.
A mega food park is coming up at Rayagada in an area of 65 acres at a cost of Rs 80.17 crore. Also, a sea food Park at Deras near Bhubaneswar in an area of 152.78 acres where the investors will get basic facilities like cold storages, primary processing centres, reefer vehicles, food testing labs, etc.
Some of the major brands are already present at the Khurda Food Park and enjoying the environment of ease of doing business in the state. Some of them are Britannia Industries Ltd, Parle Agro, Anmol Biscuits, he added.
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