Govt approves PLI scheme worth Rs 10,900 for food processing sector; here's what experts say

The government has approved the much-anticipated production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for the domestic food processing sector, paving the way for a rapid expansion of India's packaged food companies.

With an outlay of Rs 10,900 crore, the scheme is an effort to make the industry globally competitive. Effective from the financial year 2021-2022, the scheme is aimed at helping farmers earn better prices and reduce crop wastage, it will run over six years through 2026-2027.

The PLI plan envisions to create over 2.5 lakh jobs and expand India's food processing capacity to generate processed food output worth Rs 33,494 crore.

The scheme also offers incentives to select food producers to expand their presence in foreign markets by growing production base, retail presence, and marketing and branding in export markets.

Primarily, four key categories -- ready to eat and ready to cook, processed fruits and vegetables, marine products, and mozzarella cheese -- will be given preference, where manufacturers will get incentives based on investments and incremental sales.

Additionally, SMEs with innovative and organic portfolios in free-range eggs and poultry meat will be covered by the scheme.

To decode the impact of the scheme, Shereen Bhan spoke to Abhay Hanjura, co-founder of Licious; Musthafa PC, CEO of iD Fresh Food, and Rahul Jain, co-founder & COO of Epigamia.