‘Food outsourcing is a $5-billion opportunity for India’

Ahmedabad, India: The food outsourcing business from India has an opportunity of $5 billion as of today, said Mr Piruz Khambatta, Chairman & Managing Director, Rasna Pvt Ltd, at Amaethon — the fifth edition of the Agri-Business Summit of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

But it is still untapped potential, said Mr Ajit Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industry. “Only six per cent of the total amount of food produced in the country is processed. This has led to an annual loss of Rs 33,000 crore in the agricultural sector through perishable commodities,” said Mr Kumar. He said this was the single biggest reason why agriculture was becoming unviable for the farmers and they are diversifying to other sectors.

Mr Khambatta said there were several fruit and vegetable varieties in India such as the sweet lime or mosambi, which can be promoted and exported as an exotic fruit, but was not explored.