Can food processing sector in India create 1 crore jobs by 2024?

With the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on February 1, 2017 focusing on job creation in apparel and allied sectors, Assocham and Grant Thorton believe that it is the food processing sector that may hold a trump card to create jobs in the country. 

Assocham-Grant Thorton research said that the food processing sector has capability to attract $33 billion in investments and generate employment of 90 lakh persons by 2024.

The report said, “The food processing is a key contributor to employment generation in India. The policymakers have identified food processing as a key sector in encouraging labor movement from agriculture to manufacturing.”

The report also projected Indian food and retail market to touch $482 billion by 2020 as against $258 billion in 2015.

India's has the second largest arable land in the world and is the largest producer of milk, pulses, sugarcane and tea in the world and the second largest producer of wheat, rice, fruits and vegetables.

About 460 million tons of food valued at $3 billion is traded annually in the country.

In the last few years,  the country's food processing exports accounted for 12% of total exports. 

Between FY11-FY15, India's exports of processed food related products grew at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.3%. 

The report said, "The sizeable presence of small-scale industries points to the sector’s role in employment generation. Though the market falls under the unorganised sector in the country, the organised sector has a larger share in the secondary processing segment than the primary one."