Badal calls for UAE investments
India is to explore the possibility of setting up a fund for providing marketing support to launch Indian products in the UAE supermarkets.
The proposal came following one-on-one meetings held by Minister of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) Harsimrat Kaur Badal at the GulFood 2020 in Dubai.
During discussions with the India UAE Food security corridor project representative, the Minister proposed that existing MOFPI supported infra may be utilised to give a head start to the project.
Badal emphasized on fast tracking the project and assured that all necessary support for grounding the project will be provided by the Ministry through Invest India.
UAE is the third largest trading partner of India with bilateral trade reaching US$59.909 billion in 2018-19. Food items are one of the major Indian exports to UAE.
The Food Processing Sector in India being a sunrise sector is poised for exponential growth and has emerged as a high growth sector due to its immense potential for value addition, ability to control inflation and ensure remunerative prices to farmers, she said.
Badal updated delegates on the huge and promising market with 1.3 billion population, increasing purchasing power, adequate availability of raw materials, availability of young and skilled manpower and a number of fiscal incentives that are being offered by the Indian Government for encouraging investments in this sector.
A number of steps have been taken to improve the environment of ease of doing business, she pointed out. The regulatory mechanism for Food related industries in India has been aligned with the international standards making the Indian exports more acceptable to the global markets.
India is rich in production of food grains, fruits, vegetables and milk but lacks in processing infrastructure, said the Minister calling on UAE to channel funds and technology available to help create such facilities.
A partnership between India and UAE can ensure Food Security for the Gulf nation in the times to come, said Badal.
Indian participation in the exhibition, held 16-20 Feb 2020, by APEDA with more than 100 exporters. fiinews.com
