Huge potential for processed Indian foods in global market: Chirag Paswan

Davos: Pitching for taking Indian food products global, Union minister Chirag Paswan has said that the Indian processed food sector has huge potential for growth in the international markets.

Here for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, Paswan told PTI that the food processing ministry allocated to him by Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes with a huge responsibility.

"Our aim is how we can help our farmers more while also strengthening the food processing industry of the country," Paswan said soon after reaching Davos on Monday evening.

In an agriculture-dominated country like India, the food processing industry can play a key role in ensuring the economic progress of our farmers, he said.

Referring to the prime minister's aim to make India a developed nation by 2047, Paswan said the food processing sector will have a significant contribution in achieving that goal.

"Earlier, our farmers used to face a lot of post-harvest issues, but in the last ten years we have seen a lot of new programmes that have not only provided post-harvest help to the farmers but also helped create a large number of entrepreneurs in this sector," the minister said.

"I'm talking about the rural sector, not just tier one or tier two cities. I believe there are great possibilities at the international level also for our food processing sector to grow," he said.

Paswan, who has several bilateral meetings lined up here in addition to his participation in the five-day WEF Annual Meeting ending on January 24, said the way Indian flavours are liked and cherished globally is known to everyone.

"For centuries, Indian spices have been famous everywhere. We have so many varieties across the country from north to south and from east to west. All of these are now getting famous at international levels," he said.

"At the same time, the demand for processed foods has been growing globally. If we look at the data for the last one decade, the export of processed food has grown from 13-14 per cent to 23-24 per cent.

"This shows there is a huge growth potential in this sector in the global market. I'm working in that direction only, so that Indian brands get international recognition," Paswan said.