Ludhiana Food Park to see investment by 6 more firms

Vijay C Roy

Advertisement

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 13

After Godrej Tyson Foods Ltd and Iscon Balaji Foods (P) Ltd, around half a dozen food processing industries in the MSME category would set up units in Punjab’s Mega Food Park at Ludhiana with an investment of around Rs 90 crore. The companies have already purchased land and are in various stages of construction.

Among the major companies which would set up their facilities are Delmonte (Rs 55 crore), Sharman Jain Sweets (Rs 18 crore), Meat Master (Rs 8-9 crore), Rishika Foods (Rs 2.5 crore), Roseberg Foods (Rs 2 crore) and Shree Sant Ji (Rs 50 lakh).

The food park, being set up by Punjab Agro Industries at Ludhiana, has already attracted investment of around Rs 125 crore by corporates such as Godrej Tyson and Iscon Balaji. The two units would process 7,200 MT of potato per annum and 5,700 MT of frozen and ready-to-eat food products per annum.

“Godrej Tyson and Iscon Balaji have already commenced commercial production in February this year. Meat Master is doing trial run. Among others, Sharman Jain Sweets is setting up a ready-to-eat food facility which will commence operations soon. The rest of the companies are in different stages of setting up their facilities,” said a senior official in Punjab Agro Industries.

Sources said very soon Delmonte would start producing mayonnaise and processing of tomatoes.

The upcoming facility will further give impetus to the food processing sector in the state. The processing of fruits, vegetables and other agricultural produce is critical for Punjab’s economy because of its growing share in the agriculture production basket and recurrent price fluctuation affecting farmers’ income.

The food park is being set up with an investment of Rs 117 crore and will benefit people of Ludhiana and nearby districts, including Jalandhar, Moga, Amritsar and Fatehgarh Sahib.

Besides Ludhiana, the state has a food park in Fazilka which is operational and was set up by International Mega Food Park Ltd with an investment of around Rs 140 crore. The third mega food park is coming up at Phagwara. Being set up with an investment of around Rs 125 crore, the upcoming facility will further give impetus to the food processing sector in the state.

“The upcoming food park is in construction phase and is expected to be commissioned by May this year. The company is also setting up a maize-processing facility with a daily grinding capacity of 600 tonnes per day, entailing an additional investment of over Rs 125 crore in the mega food park,” said Bhavdeep Sardana, CEO, Sukhjit Starch & Chemicals Ltd.