Union Minister of Food Processing Industries Pashupati Kumar Paras on Friday said the government expects leading players in the food processing sector from across the globe to showcase their strengths during the second edition of ‘World Food India-2023’ which will be held on 3-5 November at Pragati Maidan here.

The second edition of ‘World Food India-2023’ will be organised by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries.

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The curtain-raiser event to WFI-2023 was held here on Friday. During the event, the Union minister of food processing industries and Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries and Jal Shakti Prahlad Singh Patel, launched a website, publicity brochure and promotional video for WFI-2023.

Addressing the Curtain Raiser event, Paras emphasised that India is one of the fastest-growing economies with many investment opportunities, especially in the food processing sector.

He outlined five pivotal elements of the WFI-2023 as Millets- ‘Shree Anna-The Super Food of India’, Innovation and Sustainability ‘Green Food’, White Revolution 2.0, making India an export hub and focus on technology and digitisation.

Paras added that industry professionals’ meets, exhibitions and Food Street – a specially curated food experience arena, are also planned to explore collaborations and B2B/G contracts. He said the event will highlight the myriad opportunities, infrastructure available, incentives, and benefits to the investors.

Addressing the curtain-raiser event, Patel said with the experience of previous edition of WFI-2017, the government is looking forward to WFI-2023 as a flagship global event. He said India is proud of meeting the food needs of the world and the scientific parameters will help in the further growth of the food processing industry.

Patel said the various government initiatives including the PLI schemes in the food processing industry are enhancing the marketing and branding and the government is proud of the standardising the quality parameters.

Patel emphasised that innovation in the food processing industry is a key differentiator globally, and will help India emerge as one of the strongest economies in the world. He added that digitalisation has enhanced the quality parameters even at self-help groups level, and thus improved the sector’s competitiveness.

While requesting wide stakeholder participation in the event, Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries Ms Anita Praveen, said that World Food India-2023, a flagship event of the Ministry, is a unique platform for global investors of food companies.

She said the Ministry aims to make India an export hub with a major contribution from food processing and allied industries. She added that the focus of the Ministry is on value addition, processing machinery, packaging technology & material etc.

She said that Millets- ‘Shree Anna-The Super Food of India’ is one of the pillars of this event and there are immense investment opportunities in post-harvest management such as primary processing and storage, preservation infrastructure, cold chain, refrigerated transport and value addition in organic and nutritious foods. She emphasised that WFI-2023 will provide an impetus for the industry’s further growth and showcase India’s potential in the food processing industry to the world.

Vice-President, FICCI, Harsha V Agarwal, and Secretary General, FICCI, Shailesh K Pathak, provided outline of the preparations made in ensuring success of the event and brief of the arrangements at the venue for facilitating exhibitions, B2B, B2G & G2G meetings and collaborations. Being organised as part of International Year of Millets 2023 activities, WFI-2023 will have Millets (Shree Anna), organic produce & indigenous processed food as some of the focus areas, and will be held through collaborations with and investments from global stakeholders.