Thu. Mar 28th, 2024
Harsimrat Kaur Badal

Union Minister of Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal, while addressing an industry round table organised by US India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) said that reducing the waste of food is the top priority for India.

India is ranked as one of the largest producers of food materials, with being on number one for milk production and on the second position for fruit and vegetables in the world.  Harsimrat Badal is on a week-long trip to the US and during her tour, she will be visiting the agriculture industry and food processing companies in Chicago, Washington and New York City.

She also held one on one meetings with industry executives from US companies including Pepsico, Amazon, The Hershey Company, Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart, Kraft Heinz, and Honeywell and a few others.

While addressing the round table Badal said that India is currently only processing 10% of the food produced, and the rest if all wasted. She urged the US companies to invest in India and help to reduce the wastage of food. “With a growing country and population, the Indian government has made it a huge priority to reduce this waste,” Badal said.

She informed that India is fighting a tough war against food wastage and is hence in need of better technologies and innovation. She presented the vast investment opportunities that the US companies could grab and in return, India will be able to fight the issue of wastage of food by borrowing best practices, technology, and innovation from the US.

She also informed that currently, India possesses at least a USD 6-billion-dollar food sector, of which 70 percent is food retail and will be tripled by 2020. Badal, trying to convince the investors said that an average Indian spends a minimum of 40% of its income on food and the US could make huge benefits. She also said that the given data is sure to double in coming six years.

Mukesh Aghi, president of USISPF also supporting Badal said that India offers immense possibilities for investments.
Badal’s visit to the US comes ahead of the of the mega World Food India, that will be held in New Delhi from 3-5 Nov and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the fest. This global event is being hosted by India hoping to attract foreign investors to India and facilitate partnerships between Indian and international businesses.
The mega World Food India event is also being organised keeping in mind to further enhance the food industry and create a better source of an environment, which in return will increase the farmer’s income, create employment, and foster entrepreneurship.