India’s food processing sector remains under-developed despite being the world’s largest producer of milk and second-largest of fruit and vegetables. Comment on the constraints and the role of PLI for food processing.
Subtopic: Agriculture · Food processing
How to structure your answer
Introduction: India's food processing GVA contributes ~1.7% of GVA and ~7.7% of manufacturing GVA (MoFPI Annual Report 2024-25); processing levels at ~10% vs 30%+ in Thailand.
Body: 1) Constraints — cold-chain gap, fragmented sourcing, APMC frictions, low R&D. 2) Schemes — PLI for Food Processing (₹10,900 crore), PMKSY mega food parks and cold-chain. 3) Aggregation — FPOs and One District One Product.
Way forward: Operationalise 10,000 FPOs scheme; revise APMC Acts under e-NAM; expand PMFME for micro units.
Written within the word limit
130 words · target 150 words · 9 min
Introduction: India processes only 10% of its agricultural output against 70% in Brazil (NITI Aayog 2024), despite being the world's largest milk producer (231 MT, NDDB 2024-25) and second-largest in fruit-and-vegetables.
Body: Post-harvest losses are ₹1.53 lakh crore annually (NABCONS 2022), with horticulture losses of 7-16%. The Ministry of Food Processing Industries operates PMKSY (₹4,600 crore Mega Food Parks, cold chains, Operation Greens) and the PLI scheme for Food Processing (₹10,900 crore over 2021-27). PMFME (₹10,000 crore) supports 2 lakh micro-enterprises with One District One Product. Constraints: fragmented value chains, cold-storage deficit of 30 MT, inverted GST on packaged foods, and SPS compliance gaps depressing exports (₹46,000 crore, FY25). NLP 2022 and PM GatiShakti reduce logistics but multi-modal cold chains lag.
Way forward: MoFPI should integrate PMKSY-PLI-PMFME with the Agricultural Infrastructure Fund (₹1 lakh crore) and notify Codex-aligned FSSAI standards by 2027 to triple processing.
What an examiner expects to see
- PLISFPI outlay ₹10,900 crore over 2021-27
- PMKSY Mega Food Parks and Cold Chain components
- PM Formalisation of Micro Food Enterprises (PMFME)
- MoFPI Annual Report 2024-25
- Operation Greens for TOP → TOTAL crops
- FSSAI — Food Safety and Standards Act 2006
Concrete cases, schemes and judgments
- ODOP Mango Pulp Andhra Pradesh
- Amul cooperative model
- Megha Engineering cold chain
- PLISFPI for ready-to-eat segments