NO THOUGHT FOR FOOD
When Varun Chaudhury, executive director of Nepal-based CG Corp Global, the makers of Wai Wai noodles, applied to build a food park in India, he expected the effort to be an extension of the work his company already does. A leader in the food processing industry, the Rs 13,000 crore conglomerate’s business in India spans several sectors, from FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) to hospitality. Nonetheless, Chaudhury, who is steering the group’s FMCG arm, says he found the experience unexpectedly challenging, with what he describes as complicated and stringent regulations.
On the face of it, the government seems to be doing all it can to encourage the private sector to build and operate food parks—for instance, a Rs 50 crore cash subsidy is given as a grant to businesses that meet certain conditions, an incentive that Anand Jha, CEO of Pristine Foods, calls a “one-of-a-kind initiative”. What derails the effort is a host of nuts-and-bolts issues, from project allocations, land acquisitions, overcomplicated rules, poor marketing and a lack of involvement by state governments.
Though India is a world leader in food production, it processes only a small fraction of the output—an RBI (Reserve Bank of India) note from March 2020 estimates it at less than 10 per cent. The Rs 85,000 crore food processing industry employs about 1.77 million people in 39,748 registered units, with an aggregate output of $158 billion (Rs 11.5 lakh crore). An assessment by Invest India says the
