Top export sector for India market

Did you know?

It is said that makers and sellers of ready-to-eat food are touchy about their recipes. But US fast-food giant, Macdonalds, has fundamentally changed its recipe of the 'Big Mac' exclusively for India.

Food processing and packaging equipment

(in US$ million)

Food processing and packaging equipment	1995	1996	1997*
Total market size	527	638	824
Locally manufactured	415	505	655
Total exports	28	30	35
Total imports	140	164	204
Exchange rate: US$1 = Rs.	32.75	34.95	35.00
Source: Independent studies *1997 figures are estimates

 

Promising sub-sectors	1997* market size (US$ mn)
Food-processing equipment	195
Fruit/vegetable processing equipment	198
Food-packaging equipment	196
Food preservation machinery	235

Points to be noted:

• The government has delicenced the food-processing sector and foreign companies can automatically open plants with 50 per cent equity. No approvals are required.

• The food-processing industry is being nurtured not only to cater to increasing domestic demand but also to add to India's exports.

• Demand for processed food is growing because of changing demographics, lifestyles, breakdown of the joint-family system, increasing number of working women and a fast-food culture imported through urban-oriented and immensely popular TV soap operas.

• India is also an exporter of both processed food and food-processing machinery. To improve the quality of its exports, superior technology, equipment and machinery are needed and this is possible only through imports and foreign investments.

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