MSME National Summit and Awards 2021: “Industry will have to work with the government to make the PLI scheme a success”
The MSME National Summit and Awards 2021 is focusing on the new growth opportunities, along with the challenges faced by the food processing sector.
•Updated: August 17, 2021 17:08 pm
The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector plays an important role in the economic and social development of the country. The MSME sector has a significant contribution on many fronts to the country's economy. And it accounts for about 30 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
The demand for packaged food has increased in urban areas in the past few years. And especially during the COVID, there is a lot of change in the behaviour of the customers and the demand from their side. Due to which the food processing sector is expanding in the country. At the same time, the government is also emphasising the food processing sector and it is being seen as a sunrise sector.
Through the MSME National Summit and Awards 2021, we are focusing on the new growth opportunities, along with the challenges faced by the food processing sector. Entrepreneurs and experts from the industry participated in today’s webinar focused mainly on the food processing sector. The MSME NATIONAL SUMMIT and AWARDS 2021 presenting partner is Amazon, co-powered by Pharmeasy and Intel, Crypto Exchange Partner is BitBns, Domain partner is Godaddy, laptop partner is Dell, and special partner is Teamology.
Piruz Khambata, Chairman, Rasna Private Limited and Chairman, CII Task Force on Ease of Doing Business; Anand Ramanathan, Partner, Deloitte India; Azhar Tambuwala, Executive Member, Food & Beverages Committee, TPCI and Director, Sahyadri Farms. The webinar was hosted by Saurabh Manchanda, SME Editor, Zee Business.
While discussing the Performance Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme in the webinar, Piruz Khambata, Chairman, Rasna, said that I welcome the PLI scheme. He said that I consider PLI is a big incentive. Commenting on the scheme, Khambata said that earlier the PLI scheme was meant for fresh investment and growth in most sectors. Then the industry suggested that brand building is important to increase exports. In fact, investing in a food brand is important. After that brand building was also included in PLI. He also said that the industry will also have to work with the government to make the PLI scheme a success.
Keeping a keen eye on organic and innovative food products, Azhar Tambuwala, Director, Sahyadri Farms, said that innovative products are being promoted. However, there should be a scheme for investment in research and development. He believes that it takes a lot of hard work, a lot of ideas to develop any product. At the same time, there is also the possibility of failure. He also said that it takes a long time to make a product successful.
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Commenting on the scale and potential of the food processing industry in India, Anand Ramanathan, Partner, Deloitte India, said that if you look at food in India traditionally, then the food pyramid has been dominated by carbohydrates. But as the income increased, the addition of protein, fresh fruits and vegetables to the diet was also included in the table. He said that these are all areas where there is an increase in consumption. So, we'll see greater levels of investment in all these different areas. And there are also huge opportunities in the market.
Talking about the Mega Food Parks, Khambata said that the implementation of the scheme is important. The selection of who should be included in this scheme needs attention. He said that the scheme envisages a supermarket infrastructure. This includes facilities like testing lab, primary processing center, secondary processing center, linkage, cold chain in the same area.