World Food India 2019 to be held in New Delhi

Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union Minister for Food Processing Industries, recently announced that World Food India 2019 will be held at Vigyan Bhawan and Rajpath Lawns in New Delhi from 1st to 4th November 2019.

Key Highlights

The announcement was made while Smt. Kaur was chairing a meeting with various stakeholders of World Food India including CEOs of major food processing companies and Industry Associations The meeting discussed investment opportunities available in India in Food Processing Sector.

This meeting was followed by a 2nd meeting with Ambassadors or High Commissioners of leading food processing and food retailing countries.

Objective: Meetings were held to discuss various investment opportunities available in India, in India’s Food Processing Sector as well as to sensitize participants about their participation in WFI 2019.

Indian Food Processing Industry: has grown tremendously by recording 11% growth rate, which is two times the speed of Global Industry. The Food Processing sector also recorded a double digit growth rate across all major sub-segments of sectors both in terms of both value and volume.

About WFI 2019

The WFI 2019 will be the 2nd edition of World Food India. This year the Union Ministry is targeting to partner with minimum 15 countries as well as participation from at least 80 countries.

Tagline of WFI 2019 event will be- Forging Partnerships for Growth.

Events: It will consist of many top level seminars, exhibitions, country sessions, investment opportunities, high level CEO roundtables, B2B (Business to Business) and B2G (Business-to-Government) networking etc.

Need: Despite huge domestic market (with 1.3 billion customers and youngest global population) along with abundant agricultural base, the processing levels in India still remain low at 7.7% behind economies such as China, Malaysia and United States. India’s has the share of only 2% in exports of processed food globally.  Food processing is critical to achieve Prime Minister’s vision of doubling farmers’ income in India and reducing food wastage.

Significance: WPI 2019 event will be the biggest gathering of all global and domestic stakeholders in Food Processing Sector and will position India as Food Processing Destination of the World.

Background

The Indian government initiated World Food India (WFI) as a biennial event, to promote food processing sector at global level. 1st edition of WFI was held in 2017. The event received global success and created Brand India in global food map by positioning India as a World Food Factory. In WFI 2017 over 61 countries, ministers from several countries, Indian states and UTs participated, more than 8,000 B2B meetings held and MoUs worth USD 14 Billion were signed.

Month: Current Affairs - June, 2019