The stall put up by State Department of Industries at 16th Annual India Food and Beverages Pro World Expo at Goa witnessed huge footfall in the three day event which concluded on Saturday.
Set up on an area of 36 SqMt. the Jharkhand pavilion showcased the features of Jharkhand Food Processing Policy to attract more investors to the State and attracted over 150 small and big scale investors interested in knowing the details.
Industries Director, Mukesh Kumar said, “The department has set up Jharkhand Pavilion to disseminate information about benefits about different schemes of Jharkhand on food processing as well as other policies to attract investors from across India and the world to set up food and feed processing units in Jharkhand.”
The event witnessed both national and international participation including States like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Nagaland, Sikkim and other government bodies along with international representatives from Australia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Ambassador of Congo, Rosette Mosi Nymale visited the Jharkhand pavilion on Friday where the director briefed her about the policies of the State. “We discussed the opportunities existing in the field of agriculture and processed food,” Kumar said.
The Director informed the Congo ambassador about the types of agricultural and horticultural crop grown in Jharkhand and how the department is providing benefits to investors to set up units in the State.
Meanwhile, the ambassador informed about the various crop grown in Congo like pineapple, passion fruit, coffee and others and at the same time shared the concern about her country lacking processing facilities.
While Kumar invited Nymale to visit Jharkhand to see the opportunities existing in the State, the ambassador also invited the officials from Jharkhand Industries Department to visit Congo and explore opportunities in the field of food processing and avenues to collaborate with them.
Some of the salient features of the food policy displayed at the pavilion included the Jharkhand Government giving a grant of 35-45 per cent for setting up food processing, feed processing and minor forest produce based industry, subsidy of up to 50 per cent or Rs 7 crore for setting up cold chain, 35 percent or up to Rs 12 crore subsidy for setting up mega projects for food processing of Rs 30 crore and above among other facilities.
Rameswar Teli, Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Government of India also visited the Jharkhand Pavilion and took a stock of Jharkhand Food Processing Industry Policy 2015. He congratulated the team of Department of Industries for setting up the pavilion and informing investors about prospects of food processing.