World Food India (WFI) 2019 will be held from 1-4 November, 2019 in New Delhi and will position India as food processing destination of the world, announced Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal.
WFI 2019 will be the biggest gathering of all global and domestic stakeholders in food processing sector, the minister said while speaking to media.
The Minister chaired a meeting with various stakeholders of WFI 2019 including the associated ministries and departments, CEOs of major food processing companies and industry associations. This was followed by a meeting with ambassadors/high commissioners of leading food processing/food retailing countries.
The meetings were held to discuss the investment opportunities available in India in the food processing sector and to sensitise the gathering about their participation in WFI 2019.
Badal informed the gathering that the second edition of WFI is planned at a much bigger and grandeur level from 1-4 November 2019 at Vigyan Bhawan and Rajpath Lawns in New Delhi. WFI 2019 shall consist of several top level seminars, investment opportunities, exhibitions, high level CEO roundtables, country sessions, B2B and B2G networking etc.
For the year 2019, the Ministry is targeting to partner with at least 15 countries and participation from at least 80 countries. The tagline of the event will be “Forging Partnerships for Growth”.
The Minister further said that food processing is one of the six superstar sectors under the Government of India’s Make in India initiative and has the potential to transform India as a leading food processing destination of the world.”
Food processing is critical to achieving the Prime Minister’s vision of doubling the farmers’ income in India and reducing food wastage and that the Ministry is making several efforts to ensure that this vision is realized, she added.
The Minister said that Indian food processing industry has grown tremendously recording 11 per cent growth rate, which is twice the pace of global industry. The sector has recorded double digit growth rate across all major sub-segments of the sectors both in terms of value and volume.
The Minister informed that despite huge domestic market of 1.3 billion customers with the youngest population globally and an abundant agricultural base, the processing levels in India remain low at 7.7 per cent behind several economies such as China, Malaysia and US.
India’s share in global exports of processed food is only 2 per cent. Besides, India also has a high share of harvest and post-harvest losses from major agricultural produces on account of poor storage, transportation and logistics to the extent of Rs. 92,651 crores (US$ 13 billion), 3-times the agricultural budget.
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