VIJAYAWADA: With two-day Partnership Summit to be organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Visakhapatnam on January 27 and 28, drawing closer, officials of the food processing department are making the ground ready for attracting more investments to the sector during the event.
As the officials have already prepared the ground to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for 27 projects to come up with an investment of Rs 2,000 crore during the two-day summit, they are hoping to attract more investments during the summit.
During the Partnership Summit held in January 2016, food processing department sanctioned 38 projects with an investment of Rs 2,368 crore and provided employment to 29,517 youth.
This year, though, the summit will be organised for only two days, the officials are confident of luring more investments than the previous year and are making the preparatory work by conducting road shows in the cities of Andhra Pradesh as well as in Mumbai and New Delhi.
Firms keen on investing in food industry
“For 27 projects to come up with an investment of Rs 2,000 crore, we have the MoUs on hand and are ready to be signed during the CII Partnership Summit. We are confident of getting more investments,” Food Processing Industries and Commerce Department secretary M Girija Shankar told Express.
Stating that the Andhra Pradesh Food Processing Policy 2015 — 2020 would provide an impetus to food processing sector, he said the policy follows a multi-faceted approach for harnessing the large resource base and bridging the gap in terms of infrastructure and other support.
“The policy provides incentives and subsidies through multiple schemes such as Scheme of Mega Food Park, Scheme of Integrated Food park, Cold Chain Scheme and New Food Processing Unit Scheme. Fiscal incentives aimed at improving viability of the projects and a large land bank helps draw investors’ interest in food processing,” the official explained.