Indian Economy News

PLI scheme incentivises the use of millets in Ready to Cook/Ready to Eat (RTC/RTE) products

Through the Annual Survey of Industries, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation makes data available on a number of aspects of the manufacturing sector, including the number of registered units involved in food processing. The number of units involved in the food processing industry increased from 40,579 in 2018–19 to 41,484 in 2019–2020, according to the most recent ASI estimates.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has been given the responsibility of developing standards for food products based on science, regulating their production, storage, distribution, sale, and import, and ensuring the accessibility of wholesome, secure food for human consumption. In their Regulations, the FSSAI outlines the hygienic and quality requirements for a variety of food products, including packaged food and non-perishable packaged food products, made by all food manufacturing facilities in the nation.

In order to promote the use of millets in Ready to Cook/Ready to Eat (RTC/RTE) products and to incentivize these products for promoting their value addition and sales, a component for millet-based products with an outlay of US$ 96.9 million (Rs. 800 crores) was carved out under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for food products being implemented by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) since 2021–22. 30 applications in total, 22 SMEs and eight large entities were accepted under this segment. The packaged and branded RTC/RTE food products with more than 15% of millets by weight/volume in the product composition are qualified for claiming the incentives under the PLI Scheme component for Millet Based Products.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.