Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of India

rocessing sector plays a vital role in reduction in the wastage of perishable agricultural produce, enhancing shelf life of food products,ensuring value... addition to agricultural produce, diversification &commercialization of agriculture, generation of employment, enhancing income of farmers and creating surplus for the export of agro & processed foods. In the era of economic liberalization, all segments including; private,public and co-operative sectors have defined roles to play and the Ministry promotes their active participation. Roles of MOFPI

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries, the Nodal Ministry of the Government of India for the sector has a clear goal of attaining these objectives by facilitating and acting as a catalyst to attract quality investments from within India and abroad into this sector with the aim of making food processing a national initiative.With this overall objective, the Ministry aims at:


Better utilization and value addition of agricultural produce for enhancement of income of farmers;

Minimizing wastage at all stages in the food processing chain by the development of infrastructure for storage, transportation and processing of agro-food produce;

Induction of modern technology into the food processing industries from both domestic and external sources;

Encourage R&D in food processing for product and process development and improved packaging;

Provide policy support, and support for creation of Infrastructure, capacity expansion/ Upgradation and other supportive measures form the growth of this sectors;

Promote export of processed food products. The functions of the Ministry can be broadly classified under policy support and development activities:

Policy Support:

(i) Formulation and implementation of policies for food processing sector with overall national priorities and objectives;

(ii) Facilitating creation of a conducive environment for healthy growth of the food-processing sector. Development Activities:

(i) Continued emphasis of the creation of World Class Infrastructure for growth of food processing sector through Mega Food Parks, Integrated Cold Chain; and Modernization of Abattoirs and also providing assistance under various Plan Schemes to food processing sector. (ii) Widening the R & D base in food processing by involvement of various R & D institutes and support to various R & D activities. (iii) Human Resource Development to meet the growing requirement of managers, entrepreneurs and skilled workers in the food processing industry. (iv) Assistance for setting up analytical and testing laboratories, active participation in the laying down of food standards and their harmonization with international standards. (v) Continue intensive consultation with industry, academia, scientists and representatives of State Governments for smoother and inclusive growth of the sector. (vi) Ministry has set up a national level institute of International standard called National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM) at Kundli in Haryana. (vii) An integrated Food Law i.e. Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 has been notified on 24.08.2006.The Act will enable in removing multiplicity of food laws and regulatory agencies and will provide single window to food processing sector. Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has been designated as the nodal Ministry for administration and implementation of the Act. (viii) Decentralisation in the implementation of various schemes with greater involvement of the States/UTs. The Ministry has launched a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme- National Mission on Food Processing (NMFP) with effect from 01.04.2012.