Government reconstitutes NFDPC; appoints Y Deveshwar among its members

NEW DELHI: Government has reconstituted the National Food Processing Development Council (NFDPC) and appointed ITC Chairman Y Deveshwar and FieldFresh Foods Vice Chairman Rakesh Bharti Mittal as its members.

The committee comprises of 29 members including Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal as its Chairman and Minister of State Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti as its Vice Chairperson.

The NFDPC is the governing body for implementation of National Food Processing Mission (NFPM).

It aims to promote facilities for post-harvest operations including setting up of food processing industries and augmenting farm gate infrastructure, supply chain logistics, storage and processing capacity.

The committee also comprises of Food Processing Minister from Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Punjab and Tamil Nadu.

Secretaries in the Food Processing Ministry, Agriculture Ministry, Department of Agricultural Research and Education and Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region are also its members.

"Earlier the industry was represented in this committee by the industry bodies and for the first time this year we have nominated individual business leaders as its members," a source said.

The source also added that the first meeting of the newly constituted NFDPC is likely to take place this week and will discuss the policy issues and seek feedback from the food processing industry.

Parle Agro Chief Executive Officer Schauna Chauhan Saluja, MTR Foods Chief Executive Officer Jay Walder, Suguna Poultry Farm Ltd Managing Director G B Sundararajan and Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad President Swati Paradkar are among others members of the committee.

NFPDC is constituted for period of two years and is supposed to meet twice a year on half-yearly basis. A Joint Secretary in Ministry of Food Processing is the convener of the committee.