Opportunities in food processing
Italy is set to lend strong support to manufacturing in India especially the development of the multi-billion-dollar food industry, according to presentations made at the Digital Indo-Italian Business Mission on Food Processing, which concluded con July 16 with a series of digital conferences.
“Italy will promote a technological partnership in the framework of further development of the Make in India initiative, therefore contributing to support the role of India as a global manufacturing platform,” assured Italian Ambassador to India, Vincenzo de Luca.
In 2019, Italy exported US$54.9 million worth of packaging machines to India which is promoting food processing in a big way by offering an incentive of US$1 billion, with the hope of leveraging another investment of US$5 billion.
Italian companies have been invited to invest in India’s 42 mega #food parks which are riding on the huge potential of ready-to-eat and frozen food due to the current #COVID-19 situation.
Minister for Food Processing Industries, Harsimrat Kaur #Badal extended the invitation to the Italian companies, highlighting the 42 mega food parks. “You can come and just plug and play,” said the Minister.
#Italy is the leading builder and exporter of food packaging and processing equipment, helping many companies around the world to innovate in the sector.
In 2016, the country produced more than US$8.5 billion worth of packaging machinery and US$7.5 billion worth of food processing technology and exported more than 70% to global markets.
A two-day virtual event on food processing, organised mid-July 2020 by the Embassy of Italy and the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), was a resounding success, with the emphasis being laid on the potential of new technologies in the food processing and packaging sector, said the Italian Ambassador.
More than 600 Italian and Indian companies attended the virtual sessions at the two-day meet which was concluded on 16 July 2020.
The #Digital Indo-Italian Business Mission on Food Processing saw a series of digital conferences, trade fairs, B2B meetings, and webinars, with participants from senior government officials from India and Italy.
Given the exponential growth potential in the Indian food processing sector, this mega event helped Indian firms understand and take cues from the technological prowess of Italian entities.
This proved beneficial, especially at a time when the demand for packaged food products is set to jump amid the COVID-19 crisis.
In total, over 1,000 accesses were registered on the CII HIVE platform, over 300 B2B were conducted and more than 70,000 persons attended the live streaming of the main session on the social media channels.
These numbers mark the success of what is the first Indo-Italian digital sectorial mission, a true landmark in economic bilateral cooperation, said Amb Vincenzo de Luca on 31 July 2020.
Speakers during the session included Manlio Di Stefano, Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs in charge of International Trade, Italy, Ambassador Lorenzo Angeloni, Director General for Economic Promotion, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Italy, Carlo Ferro, President of the Italian Trade Agency, Deepak Bagla, Managing Director & CEO of #InvestIndia and Barbara Beltrame, Vice President of #Confindustria.
The speakers emphasised on strengthening economic ties between the two countries, boosting partnerships in the food sectors, the Indian government’s efforts in making investments in India easier and re-establishing it as the fastest-growing economy in the world. #processing #makeinindia #industries #investments #technologies /fiinews.com
