Importance of Food Processing Industries (FPI)
- India is an agriculturally prosperous nation and more than 50% of its population is employed in the agricultural sector. Thus India has a surplus amount of raw materials for food processing industries. In 2018-19 the total production of Horticulture products in India was 313.85 million tons.
- With the help of food processing industries, India easily processes raw products into processed foods.
- As the agricultural sector is the major contributor to the Indian economy all the related sector like the food processing industry helps in creating employment and simultaneously benefit the economy of the country. According to the Food Processing Minister in 2020-21, the food processing industry contributes 12.8% to India’s GDP.
- Food processing is the next step in sustainable development as processed foods are less likely to get rotten thus reducing food wastage.
- Due to its longer shelf life, processed food can be smoothly exported to different parts of the world.
India holds the sixth-largest food and grocery market in the world with 70% of retail sales.
Food Processing in India: Scope and Significance
To get a better insight into the food processing industry and how its works you need to know what is food processing? Food processing industries (FPI) in India contribute a significant percentage to the GDP of India thus it becomes important to understand the scope and significance of food processing industries.