Emphasising that the food processing sector plays an important role in increasing farm income and creating off-farm jobs, Centre has stated that the share of processed food exports in agri-food exports has increased substantially from 13.7 per cent in 2014-15 to 20.4 per cent in 2024-25.
The Ministry of Food Processing Industries highlighted that the sector is one of the largest employment providers in the organised manufacturing sector, with 12.83 per cent employment in the total registered/organised sector as per the report of Annual Survey of Industries (ASI), 2023-24.
Since January 2025, a total of 56,542 loans have been sanctioned under the credit linked subsidy component of the Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PMFME) scheme. Centre allocated budget estimate of Rs 4,064 Crore to ministry for development of food processing sector in the year 2026-27, which marks an increase of about 13.79 per cent from revised estimate of Rs 3,571.57 crore in 2025-26.
Centre added that the Gross Value Added (GVA) in food processing sector has increased from Rs 1.34 lakh crore in 2014-15 to Rs 2.24 lakh crore in 2023-24. The sector has attracted USD 7.33 billion FDI equity inflow during April 2014 and March 2025.
Sharing an update around the initiatives, Centre noted that since January 2025, 36 projects have been approved under various component schemes of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) and 94 projects have been completed/operationalised resulting in processing and preservation capacity of 28.48 Lakh MT.
The approved projects, on their operationalisation, are expected to leverage investment of Rs 365.21 crore benefiting about 1.4 lakh farmers and are expected to result in more than 0.09 lakh direct/indirect employment, the ministry pointed out.
