AP is an ideal destination for investments in food processing industry, says Naidu

Rolling out a red carpet to investors, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Friday said the State is turning into an ideal destination for investments in the food processing sector due to the prevailing ecosystem, incentives being doled out by the government and availability of skilled manpower.

The Chief Minister said the AP Food Processing Policy 4.0 offers best incentives which are highly attractive including investment subsidy, power cost subsidy and several other benefits. He said the investors will get clearances immediately under single window clearance for food processing units and informed that AP sets a target to attract Rs 30,000 crore of investments and create 3 lakh jobs in next five years.

He said last year AP attracted investments to a tune of Rs. 9,000 crore in agro food processing sector alone.

Addressing the third edition of India Food Manufacturing Summit organised here by Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI), he said AP has advantages like five climatic zones and an impressive track-record in aquaculture and horticulture production.

The Chief Minister said India is turning into a global food processing hub and AP contributes 9 percent of food processing output in the country valued at 49 billion USD.

The summit deliberated on Andhra Pradesh’s vast coastline, seafood reserves, processing infrastructure and explored on how to propel its rise as a leading hub for value-added seafood and processed food exports, boosting India’s global footprint.strategies for enhancing breeding, feed quality, disease management, and export linkages to build sustainable and high-yield aquaculture value chains.

The discussion focused on the State's fertile lands and diverse agro-climatic zones providing opportunities for fruit, vegetable, and spice cultivation, smart cold chains and logistics for year-found exports, digitalized, temperature-controlled storage and transport solutions and modernization of dairy, poultry & meat processing.

Naidu said by contributing 15.6 per cent of total fruit production AP emerged as Fruit capital of India. In addition AP contributes around 32 per cent of marine seafood exports and covers 2.26 lakh acres under aquaculture. He said AP ranks first in registered food industries with 6,000 functional units.

Stating that with increasing demand for quality food the demand for food processing units is increasing. He said a world class food processing eco system was present in AP with 9 integrated food parks equipped with plug and play facilities, cold storage and warehousing facilities. He said

Naidu stressed the need for bringing value addition for food products in the global market. He said that AP is one of the largest food producers in the country with a net cultivable area of 8.45 million hectares. AP is No. 1 in fish, shrimp and egg production contributing 17.85 per cent of India's eggs and 10.41 per cent of meat exports.

Earlier, addressing the gathering Avinash Joshi, Secretary, Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries lauded the efforts of AP Government in the food processing sector and underlined the need for value addition to food products and to prevent wastage of food.

Trade Promotion Council of India Chairman Mohit Singla announced the opening of TPCI southern regional office in Amaravati. He said AP is in the forefront in food processing.

Minister for Industries TG Bharath, Principal secretary of Food processing, AP, Chiranjeevi Chowdary and others addressed the gathering.