About the Industry
FOOD PROCESSING SECTOR IN INDIA
Food Processing sector in India is growing at an average annual growth rate of 8.38 percent compared to 4.87 percent growth in agriculture and allied sector in the last 5 years(since 2016-17 at 2011-12 constant prices). The sector constituted 10.54 percent and 11.57 percent of GVA in manufacturing and agriculture sector, respectively in 2020-21(MOFPI, 2023a). In terms of employment, the sector employs almost 2 million workers in nearly 40,160 registered units with a fixed capital of USD 32.85 billion and aggregate output of USD 160 billion (ASI, 2023).It is further expected that India's food processing sector output may reach USD 535 billion by 2025-26 with increased consumption in Tier-ll and Tier-III cities (Invest India, 2023a).As acrucial link between agriculture and industry, food processing sector is of significant importance for India's economic development Currently, India is the largest producer of milk, pulses, banana, mango, pomegranate, papaya, lemon, okra, ginger and non-food crops like cotton and jute, the second-largest producer of rice, wheat, fruits and vegetables, tea and one of the leading producers of eggs and meat in the world. India produced298.5 million tonnes of cereals, 296 million tonnes of pulses, 342 million tonnes of horticulture, 221 million tonnes of milk, 122 billion eggs, and 8.8 million tonnes during 2021-22.
India currently processes less than 10% of its agri output (only around 2% of fruits and vegetables, 6% of poultry, 21% of meat, 23% of marine and 35% of milk) and most of the processing that is done in India can be classified as primary processing-done through rice, sugar, edible oil and flour mills etc (MOFPI, 2023a). This shows that there is a huge potential for food processing in India, yet to be explored