ASSOCHAM favours FDI in food processing

BHUBANESWAR: Favouring FDI in food processing, industry body ASSOCHAM said it would substantially boost agro industries, especially in Odisha where investment in the sector is abysmally low at 4.5 per cent of the total amount invested in the country.

If FDI in the food processing sector is allowed, flow of investment would jump manifold into Odisha which has the potential to get ten per cent share of the total investment in this sector in the country, ASSOCHAM Secretary General D S Rawat told reporters here.

Stating that Odisha accounts for only 4.5 per cent of the total investment of about Rs nine lakh crore in food processing in the country, he said it would rise marginally to 6.6 per cent of total investment which is likely to touch Rs 15 lakh crore in 2015.

Seeking concrete steps to raise investment in food processing sector in Odisha, Rawat said ASSOCHAM Cluster Development Foundation in collaboration with the state government has proposed to adopt two districts for setting up food and agri processing clusters.

This would be on the lines of its initiatives taken in West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir and Bihar with full support from United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and Central government, he said.

The UNIDO team would be in India in the first week of March and their association shall also be explored, he said.