The government has planned to set up a non-banking financial company (NBFC) with an initial corpus of Rs 2,000 crore to fund food processing industries as part of its effort to boost this sector and double farmers income, Union Cabinet Minister for Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal said on Friday.
Addressing a CII event, Badal said the government has inaugurated 15 mega food parks in last four and half years out of 42 sanctioned, in contrast to mere 2 parks between 2008 and 2014 during the UPA regime.
“We are setting up a fund for lending to food processing industries,” she said at the event. On the sidelines, the Minister said that she would hold consultation with the finance ministry on setting up of this NBFC. The proposal would also be put before the Cabinet for approval.
Asked about the size of the fund, Badal said the initial corpus would be Rs 2,000 crore, but the same would increase significantly later. Earlier, at the event, she highlighted the initiatives taken by her ministry is the last four and half years for the growth of this sector. The minister said the food processing sector is attracting $ 1 billion (around Rs 7,000 crore) foreign direct investment (FDI) annually now.