Processing sector in India needs high investment

The meat and poultry processing industry in India requires an investment of by around 1 billion USD (Rs 4,000- 5,000 crore), secretary Ashok Sinha from the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MOFPI) said on the sidelines of a recently held conference on the meat and poultry sector in Delhi, India.

“Meat products are a price sensitive commodity and we need to provide good hygienic products for which the consumer would not mind paying a little extra”, he said. “Despite strong untapped potential, the sector has not been able to achieve the desired growth due to different marketing mechanisms, no value additions and low investment in processing facilities. The sector needs to be modernised to increase the profits, but immediate requirement is for the establishment of modern slaughter houses”. Sinha pointed out.

Rupali Banerjee Singh, CEO of the National Meat and Poultry Processing Board (NMPPB) supported Sinha’s comments and added that modernisation will not only boost the income levels in this sector but also expand the export base.
“India has 3,600 registered slaughter houses and 25,000 unregistered ones, but there are only 5-6 modern slaughter houses,” Singh said.

According to Sinha, the biggest investment would be required to develop modern slaughter houses all over the country. “These slaughter houses would not only be used for slaughtering animals but also to process the products and would be able to safely dispose the waste” . The government is currently developing 10 modern slaughter houses of which three should almost be complete and would start functioning very soon.
“The ministry will be submitting an elaborate investment plan to modernise the poultry sector in the 12th five year plan proposals,” Sinha concluded

Source: The Economic Times