Govt committed to make state food processing hub: Minister

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, May 16

Industry and Commerce Minister Sunder Sham Arora has said the government is committed to make the state a food processing hub of the country.

He added that to give boost to the food processing industry, huge subsidies would be given to the entrepreneurs. “If a person will invest Rs 28 crore in the industry here, a subsidy and incentives of Rs 10 crore will be given by the state government,” said the minister.

Arora was in the city to inaugurate first-of-its-kind Punjab Agri and Food Conclave held in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) at the PAL auditorium here on Wednesday.

Arora added that three mega food parks (Ladowal Food Park, Ludhiana, Sukhjit Mega Food Park, Phagwara, and International Mega Food Park, Fazilka) were being established. Besides, under the Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor, a high-tech manufacturing cluster at Ludhiana and an integrated manufacturing cluster at Rajpura would also be built soon.

Arora said in the last few months, 150 renowned business houses had invested worth Rs 7,000 crore in Punjab in agro and food processing sector. They include ITC, Pepsi, Mahindra, Godrej, Cargill, Nerolac, Reliance and others.

He added that the state government would rope in banks and anyone could avail loans from Rs 5 to Rs 25 lakh to start their business and if they face any issue, they could lodge a complaint with the department and action would be taken accordingly.

Industry and Commerce Department’s principal secretary Rakesh Kumar Verma and director DPS Kharbanda spoke on the new industrial policy of the government.

MoUs signed

On the occasion, 25 Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) worth Rs 70 crore were signed with various entrepreneurs in the presence of Arora. A MoU was also signed between the government and PAU under which the PAU would transfer the techniques to the food industry for the growth of the food processing sector. The PAU will offer 50 per cent discount on its existing facilities for the food industry.

Representatives from various food processing industries, including NABI, Verka Ludhiana Dairy, Markfed, Punjab Agro Industries Corporation, Punjab Agro Juices Limited and others, exhibited their products.