Over 1 Lakh Micro Food Processing Enterprises Funded Under PMFME Scheme, in Last 5 Years

Under central government-sponsored PM Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme across the country, a total of 1,08,580 micro food processing enterprises have been approved for assistance under PMFME Scheme till 31st October, 2024. The scheme is operational from 2020-21 to 2025-26 with total outlay of Rs. 10,000 crores.

Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Shri Ravneet Singh Bhittu, shared this information in a written reply to Loksabha.

He informed that the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) in India has been actively supporting small and medium-scale food processing entrepreneurs through various schemes. Here are some key initiatives:

Central Sector Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (PMKSY) Scheme

• Objective: To incentivize food processing entrepreneurs for setting up or expanding related industries.
• Financial Assistance: Provides mostly credit-linked financial assistance (capital subsidy) to entrepreneurs.
• Projects: Includes 41 Mega Food Parks, 399 Cold Chain projects, 76 Agro-Processing Clusters, 559 Food Processing Units, and more.

Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Food Processing Industry (PLISFPI)

• Objective: To support the creation of global food manufacturing champions and promote Indian brands in international markets.
• Implementation Period: From 2021-22 to 2026-27.
• Outlay: Rs. 10,900 crores.

Centrally Sponsored PM Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme

• Objective: To provide financial, technical, and business support for setting up or upgrading micro food processing enterprises.
• Operational Period: From 2020-21 to 2025-26.
• Outlay: Rs. 10,000 crores.
• Approved Enterprises: Over 1,08,580 micro food processing enterprises have been approved for assistance under this scheme.

These schemes, which are not region or state specific but demand driven, aim to boost the food processing industry, enhance operational efficiency, and support the transition to sustainable and modernized food processing practices.

Startups backed by MS Dhoni, Anushka-Virat Congregate at Smart Protein Summit 2022 in New Delhi Alongside Policymakers, Scientists, Investors, & Other Future Food Stakeholders

Dr. Ravishankar CN (Director, VC ICAR-CIFE, Mumbai) at the opening of Day 2 of the Smart Protein Summit 2022 by the Good Food Institute India and FICCI

Organized by the Good Food Institute India and FICCI, the Summit saw participation from representatives of the embassies of the Netherlands, Israel, Canada, educational institutions, companies such as Licious, Blue Tribe Foods, pioneering investors, and others

Yesterday marked the conclusion of the Smart Protein Summit 2022, organized by the Good Food Institute India (GFI India), the central expert organization and convening body in the ‘smart protein’ sector, in collaboration with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI). The Summit was supported by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), and India’s Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) Eat Right India initiative.

For five years now, the Smart Protein Summit has served as a platform to bring together a wide range of stakeholders, all committed to transforming our protein supply by focusing on creating an enabling environment for smart protein. The 2022 Summit spanned two days, with 80+ speakers, 13 panel discussions, 8 curated roundtables, a plant-based tasting tour, an ecosystem networking event, and much more.

With the dual intention of building partnerships and propelling the industry forward, the Summit saw over 550 participants attend. It had every major player in the room - from Blue Tribe Foods, Shaka Harry, Licious, Greenest and other pioneering smart protein companies to leading investors including Magnetic, Brinc, CIIE.CO, Beyond Impact, and more.

Heads of research institutions, government and industry bodies such as The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), The National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM), Food Industry Capacity & Skill Initiative (FICSI), The Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB) as well as young changemakers, students, and innovators took center stage at the Summit.

L-R- Nicole Rocque, Senior Innovation Specialist, GFI India , Chair Arun Seth, Advisor to GFI India, Board Member Narayana Health & Jubilant Group, HE Marten van den Berg, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to India, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Hagar Spiro-Tal, Political Counselor, Embassy of Israel in New Delhi, HE Cameron MacKay, High Commissioner of Canada, High Commission of Canada in New Delhi and Varun Deshpande, President, GFI

The Smart Protein Summit 2022 was designed by GFI India and FICCI to propel India to the forefront of the global race for smart protein innovation. Following the inaugural address, Deloitte India partner, Anand Ramanathan and Varun Deshpande unveiled topline numbers on the market size and export potential of smart protein from a rigorous study by GFI India and Deloitte India. The study projects that smart protein’s total economic opportunity (both domestic market size and exports) in 2030 is estimated to be INR 33,194 crore (USD 4.2 billion) in a high growth scenario.

Building on this, Varun Desphande, President, GFI Asia emphasized the need to become Aatma Nirbhar in smart protein and said, “India has crop diversity, a globally competitive talent pool, and hundreds of people working on this opportunity - which can create immense job opportunities across the value chain, and GFI India and Deloitte India’s modeling shows that the total number of jobs created by smart protein industry in 2030 ranges from 1,51,025 in a low growth scenario to 4, 27,985 jobs in a high growth scenario.”

All stakeholders present recognized the work to be done in order to actualize these targets. Focusing on the immense opportunity, leading entrepreneurs and investors both emphasized the importance of building high-fidelity smart protein products - plant-based or cultivated meats that look, cook, taste, and sizzle like conventional animal-derived protein.

While the industry is still a sunrise sector in India, Anand Nagarajan, Co-Founder, Shaka Harry, the smart protein startup that just signed on MS Dhoni as an investor and ambassador, encouraged the sector to play on the front foot. He said, “We're in it for the long haul even if there are blips or market corrections. Technology stocks also lost 40% of their valuations this year, but nobody said the internet is dead. We need to be bold and break out into the mainstream.”

Speaking at a panel on nurturing biotech to mega-scale, Shubhankar Takle, Co-founder, MyoWorks expressed, “I'm very excited and bullish about cultivated meat - I think it will be a paradigm shift.” Incidentally, in 2019, MyoWorks had participated in the Innovators Showcase at GFI India’s flagship event, pitching to a panel of investors that featured Shreyansh Singhal, VP of Investments, Ankur Capital. Three years in, as Ankur Capital invests seed capital in MyoWorks, it is heartening to see them both return to the Summit and lead the conversation on the need for deep science funding.

In a similar vein, Dr. Ravishankar CN, Director, ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Education in his key address, underscored that cultivated meat is a future food technology that can serve as a viable alternative to animal-derived protein. “Land is shrinking. Resources are limited,” he said, highlighting the urgency of transitioning to more sustainable sources of proteins. Dr. Ravishankar also touched upon the regulatory pathways that need to be created for new food tech innovations.

On day one of the Summit we heard both Siraj Hussain, FICCI Advisor and former Secretary, MoFPI & Agriculture, Government of India and Siraj Azmat Chaudhry, Past Chair, National Committee on Food Processing, FICCI, Former Chairman, Cargill India, and MD & CEO, NCML iterate the need to localize the supply chain. Quoting a popular idiom, Siraj A Chaudhary quipped, “They say 'ghar ki murgi dal barabar' and now we have dals and pulses coming back to compete with meat!”

While the smart protein ecosystem has grown at a remarkable rate over the last five years, very little has happened in the direction of building the necessary talent in this area. To address this, the Summit hosted dedicated roundtables and sessions on building the talent pool, with heads of universities such as NIFTEM, Gujarat Biotechnology University, TransDisciplinary University (TDU), and skilling bodies such as the Food Industry Capacity & Skill Initiative (FICSI) coming together to deliberate how to bridge the gap between industry and academia.

The Summit also celebrated the progress made in fostering an ecosystem for building talent over the last year. In a first for India, students in collaboration with GFI India set up the ‘Delhi University Smart Protein Project’, a chapter of the global Alt Protein Project, dedicated to turning universities into engines for smart protein education, research, and innovation.

Introducing the project, Devika Suresh, Innovation Associate, GFI India said, “Indian talent powers the global smart protein sector just as it does other strategically important industries, and we’re delighted to continue seeding the talent landscape through the Delhi Smart Protein Project. These student leaders will strengthen the ecosystem of education, incubation, and technology transfer in smart protein, and be propelled forward as the drivers of a more secure, sustainable, and just future of food.” 

While felicitating the student organizers of the project, Dr. Chindi Vasudevappa, Director-VC at NIFTEM, added, “Plant-based food is where we are headed, and I’m delighted to see Delhi University students taking charge and innovating.”

The Summit concluded with the ‘Smart Protein Corridors’ session that hosted HE Cameron MacKay, High Commissioner of Canada, High Commission of Canada in New Delhi, HE Marten van den Berg, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to India, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in New Delhi, and Ms. Hagar Spiro-Tal, Political Counselor, Embassy of Israel in New Delhi with inputs from session chair Arun Seth, Advisor to GFI India, Board Member Narayana Health & Jubilant Group. The dignitaries discussed opportunities for bilateral and multilateral partnerships within the smart protein ecosystem and how smart protein hubs like Canada, Israel, and the Netherlands can work with India for mutual gains in this sector. Speaking to these complementary advantages, High Commissioner of Canada to India, HE Cameron MacKay said “Canada has technology around preventing post-harvest loss that Indian farmers could use, and in the same way, we can learn from Indian traditional knowledge and how farmers in India deal with climatic conditions."

Varun Deshpande, President, GFI Asia closed the Summit with reflections on the two days and said, “I firmly believe that what we do about meat, will be the principal challenge of our lifetimes. Over the last five years, we’ve talked about the promise of this sector. What’s changed since then is the fact that 50+ companies have launched their smart protein products in markets across India. The sector has launched, and the conversations we’re having now have matured and have become a lot more sophisticated. But we still have a long way to go in order to create a world where alternative proteins are no longer alternative.”

The Good Food Institute India (GFI India) is the central expert organization, thought leader, and convening body in the Indian ‘alternative protein’ or ‘smart protein’ sector. As part of an international network of nonprofits with partners in Brazil, Israel, U.S., Europe, and Asia Pacific, GFI India is on a mission to build a healthy, sustainable, and just global food system. Since our establishment in 2017, GFI India serves as the central thought leader and convening body in the space of plant-based, cultivated, and fermentation-based meat, eggs, and dairy that are collectively known as the ‘alternative protein’ or the ‘smart protein’ sector. With unique insight across the scientific, policy, industry, and investment landscapes, we are using the power of food innovation and markets to accelerate the transition of the world’s food system toward alternative proteins. In building the sector from the ground up in India, we’re aiming to establish a model for its growth all across the developing world.

For further information on GFI India, visit www.gfi.org.in

MoFPI Invites Applications from Startups Across India with Innovative Solutions in the Food Sector

Following an overwhelming response and growing interest from startups for India’s first ever Food Processing Start-up Awards, the application deadline has been extended till 08 October, 2017. A collaborative initiative by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, CII, Start-Up India and YES BANK, being organized under the aegis of World Food India, a three-day international mega event, these awards are an attempt to recognize budding entrepreneurs that have a potential to contribute towards the growth & development of food processing sector through path-breaking technology and innovations across the processed food value chain and ecosystem.

As part of the evaluation criteria, 15-20 applications will be shortlisted from all over India, which will be further funneled into top 3 applications in the second round. The applications received so far comprise of unique solutions with a common vision to minimize food wastage, improve nutrition value of the food, and address issues related to safety, hygiene and leakages in the supply chain. Top three winners selected on November 04 will be awarded during the Valedictory Session on November 05, 2017 and will be awarded with a cash prize of INR 3 lacs, 2 lacs and 1 lac respectively.

The awards are open for all potential students and entrepreneurs/start-ups to showcase innovative products, services, ideas in order to address the key challenges in the food processing sector based on the below interesting focused areas:

- Innovative Products
- Innovative Technology
- Innovative Processing
- Innovative Packaging
- Innovative Marketing

Key benefits to the shortlisted applicants

• The awards serve as a platform for shortlisted applicants to interact with top international and domestic leaders and help get a recognition amongst stakeholders in the Food Processing Sector.


• This program also provides an opportunity to explore alliances, suitable mentoring opportunity and pitch for funding from investors and industry.


• In addition to this, free exhibition space will also be provided to the shortlisted applicants

The awards also supported by YES Global Institute, the practicing think tank at YES BANK and a-IDEA - Technology Business Incubator of NAARM, will be judged by a jury comprising of representations from the Government, investors, industry and technology incubators.

Nominations for the awards can be made online by clicking here.

Image Source: ShutterStock