Ministry of Food Processing Industries

Agency overview
Formed	1947
Jurisdiction	Government of India
Headquarters	New Delhi
Annual budget	₹1,400 crore (US$180 million) (2018-19 est.)[1]
Agency executives	Pashupati Kumar Paras, Minister of Food Processing Industries Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Smt. Pushpa Subrahmanyam IAS, Secretary Ministry of food processing Industries
Website	https://mofpi.nic.in/

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MOFPI) is a ministry of the Government of India responsible for formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to food processing in India. The ministry was set up in the year 1988, with a view to develop a strong and vibrant food processing industry, to create increased employment in rural sector and enable farmers to reap the benefits of modern technology and to create a surplus for exports and stimulating demand for processed food. The ministry is currently headed by Pashupati Kumar Paras, a Cabinet Minister.^{[citation needed]}

List of your Ministers

No.	Name	Portrait	From	To	Prime Minister
13	Giridhar Gamang		1987	1990	PV Narasimha Rao	Indian National Congress
14	Tarun Gogoi		21 November 1990	26 June 1991
15	Kamakhya Prasad Singh Deo		26 June 1991	6 March 1993
16	L. K. Advani		16 May 1996	1 June 1996	Atal Bihari Vajpayee	Bharatiya Janata Party
17	H. D. Deve Gowda		1 June 1996	6 July 1996	H. D. Deve Gowda	Janata Dal
18	Dilip Ray		6 July 1996	21 April 1997
20	Atal Bihari Vajpayee		2001	2004	Atal Bihari Vajpayee	Bharatiya Janata Party
21	Subodh Kant Sahay		22 May 2009	22 May 2011	Manmohan Singh	Indian National Congress
22	Sharad Pawar		19 January 2011	26 May 2014		Nationalist Congress Party
25	Harsimrat Kaur Badal		26 May 2014	17 September 2020	Narendra Modi	Shiromani Akali Dal
26	Narendra Singh Tomar		18 September 2020	7 July 2021		Bharatiya Janata Party
27	Pashupati Kumar Paras		7 July 2021	Incumbent		Lok Janshakti Party

List of Ministers of State

Ministers of State For Food Processing Industries

Minister of state	Portrait	Political party		Term		Days
Sanjeev Kumar Balyan		Bharatiya Janata Party		26 May 2014	9 November 2014	167 days
Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti				9 November 2014	30 May 2019	4 years, 202 days
Rameswar Teli				30 May 2019	7 July 2021	2 years, 38 days
Prahlad Singh Patel				7 July 2021	Incumbent	1 year, 200 days

Functions of the ministry

• Policy support and developmental
• Promotional and technical
• Advisory and regulatory

Goals of MOFPI

• Better utilization and value addition of agricultural produce for enhancement of income of farmers.
• Minimizing wastage at all stages in the food processing chain by the development of infrastructure for storage, transportation and processing of agro-food produce.
• Induction of modern technology into the food processing industries from both domestic and external sources.
• Maximum utilization of agricultural residues and by-products of the primary agricultural produce as also of the processed industry.
• To encourage R&D in food processing for product and process development and improved packaging.
• To provide policy support, promotional initiatives and physical facilities to promote value added exports

Roles of MOFPI

The strategic role and functions of the Ministry fall under three categories:

• Policy support developmental & promotional
• Technical & advisory
• Regulatory.

It is concerned with the formulation & implementation of policies and plans for all the industries under its domain within the overall national priorities and objectives. Its main focus areas include—development of infrastructure, technological up gradation, development of backward linkages, enforcement of quality standards and expanding domestic as well as export markets for processed food products.

The Ministry acts as a catalyst and facilitator for attracting domestic & foreign investments towards developing large integrated processing capacities, by creating conducive policy environment, including rationalization of taxes & duties. It processes applications for foreign collaborations, Export Oriented Units (EOUs) etc. and assists/guides prospective entrepreneur in his endeavour.

Post liberalization, it has approved a large no. of joint ventures, foreign collaborations, industrial licenses and 100% EOU proposals in different food processing areas and has taken major policy initiatives to facilitate an accelerated growth of the industry. The functions of the Ministry can be broadly classified as follows:

Policy support

• Formulation and implementation of policies for food processing industries within overall national priorities and objectives.
• Facilitating the creation of a conducive policy environment for healthy growth of the food-processing sector.
• Promoting rationalization of tariffs and duties relating to food processing sector.

Developmental

• Assistance under various plan schemes such as Mega Food Parks.^[2]
• Widening the R&D base in food processing by involvement of various R&D institutes and support to various R&D activities relating to development of product, process and packaging with special emphasis on traditional technologies.
• Human resource development both for entrepreneurs as well as workers engaged in the food processing industry by up gradation of their skills.
• Assistance for setting up analytical and testing laboratories, active participation in the laying down of food standards as well as their harmonization with international standards.

Promotional

• Assistance for organization of workshops, seminars, exhibitions and fairs etc.
• Assistance for studies / surveys etc.
• Publications and films.

Subjects of the Ministry

• Fruits and vegetable processing industry
• Food grain milling industry like SOEI FOODS
• Dairy products
• Processing of poultry and eggs, meat and meat products
• Fish processing
• Bread, oilseeds, meals (edible), breakfast foods, malt extract, protein isolate, high protein food, weaning food and extrude/other ready to eat food products.
• Beer, including non-alcoholic beer
• Alcoholic drinks from non-molasses base
• Aerated waters / soft drinks and other processed foods
• Specialized packaging for food processing industries
• Technical assistance and advice to food processing industry

Regulatory

Earlier the regulatory responsibilities of MoFPI were to implement Fruit Products Order (FPO), However, by the enactment of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, these regulatory responsibilities are transferred to Food Safety Authority of India, New Delhi which is under control of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.^[3]

Relevant agencies

For achieving its objectives, the Ministry, apart from various Ministries of the Government of India like Agriculture, Industry, Commerce and Health interacts with various State Governments through their Ministries / Ministry of Food Processing Industries or nominated nodal agencies which are responsible for implementing programs relating to this sector in the concerned State Governments.

The Ministry also interacts with various promotional organizations like

• Agricultural & Processed Food and Export Development Authority (APEDA)
• Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA)
• Coffee Board
• Tea Board
• Cashew Board
• National Research Development corporation (NRDC)
• National Cooperative Development Corporation
• National Horticulture Board
• Forum of Indian Food Importers President, Forum of Indian food Importers Amit Lohani