The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs,  chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved a Dairy Processing & Infrastructure Development Fund” (DIDF) with an outlay of Rs 10,881 crore during the period from 2017-18 to 2028-29.

The project will focus on building an efficient milk procurement system by setting up of chilling infrastructure & installation of electronic milk adulteration testing equipment, creation/modernization/expansion of processing infrastructure and manufacturing faculties for Value Added Products for the Milk Unions/ Milk Producer Companies

a) Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojna (PMKSY) — Allocation has been increased from USD 110 mn in RE 2017-18 to USD 215.2 mn in RE 2018-19.

b) Tomato, Onion and Potato processing- Operation Green has been launched to promote FPOs, agro logistics, processing facilities and professional management with a sum of USD 76.9 mn.

c) State of the Art Testing facility would be set up at 42 Mega Food Park to promote Agri export from current USD 30 bn to USD 100 bn.

d) Corporate Income Tax has been reduced from 30% - 25% to companies having annual turnover up to USD 38.5 mn for all sectors.

e) 100% tax exemption from profit derived from activities such as post-harvest value addition to agriculture would promote operation Green as well as PMKSY. This provision is applicable to FPOs’ having annual turnover up to USD 15.4 mn.

f) Setting up of a Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FAIDF) for fisheries sector and an Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) for financing infrastructure requirement of animal husbandry sector. Total Corpus of these two new Funds would be USD 1.53 bn.

g) Department of Agricultural Cooperation & Family Welfare (DAC&FW) would reorient its ongoing schemes and promote cluster based development of Agri commodities and regions in partnership with the MoFPI, commerce and other allied Ministries.

The Government of India encourages farmers in taking up projects in select areas by subsidizing a portion of the total project cost. All these projects aim at enhancing capital investment, sustained income flow and employment areas of national importance.

To improve ease of doing business and boost investors’ confidence, a dedicated investors’ portal "Nivesh Bandhu" has been set up by MoFPI aimed at easing the process for investors.

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries has been implementing several schemes under the umbrella of the ‘Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana’ . These schemes, with an allocation of INR 60 billion (US$ 900 million) for the period 2016 to 2020, are expected to leverage investments of INR 314 billion (US$ 5 billion) for development of infrastructure in the food processing sector

The following schemes will be implemented under PM Kisan SAMPADA Yojana:
• Mega Food Parks
• Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure
• Creation / Expansion of Food Processing & Preservation Capacities
• Infrastructure for Agro-processing Clusters
• Creation of Backward and Forward Linkages
• Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure
• Human Resources and Institutions

PM Kisan SAMPADA Yojana is expected to leverage investment of Rs. 31,400 crore for handling of 334 lakh MT agro-produce valued at INR 1,04,125 crore, benefiting 20 lakh farmers and generating 5,30,500 direct/indirect employment in the country by the year 2019-20

Note: 

a) Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojna (PMKSY) — Allocation has been increased from USD 11 cr in RE 2017-18 to USD 2.15 bn in RE 2018-19

b) 100% tax exemption from profit derived from activities such as post-harvest value addition to agriculture would promote operation Green as well as PMKSY. This provision is applicable to FPOs’ having annual turnover up to USD 1.54 cr.

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The scheme envisages financial assistance to food processing units in the form of grant-in-aid as under:

o    For storage infrastructure including Pack House and Pre cooling unit, ripening chamber and transport infrastructure, grant-in-aid @ 35% for General Areas and @ 50% for North East States, Himalayan States, ITDP Areas & Islands, of the total cost of plant & machinery and technical civil works will be provided

o    For value addition and processing infrastructure including frozen storage/ deep freezers associated and integral to the processing, grant-in-aid @ 50% for General Areas and @ 75% for North East States, Himalayan States, ITDP Areas & Islands, will be provided

o    For irradiation facilities grant-in-aid will be provided @ 50% for General Areas and @ 75% for North East States, Himalayan States, ITDP Areas& Islands

o    MoFPI has invited proposals under Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure of Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (PMKSY) for setting up Integrated Cold Chain Projects in the country. Proposals may be submitted online at http://sampada-mofpi.gov.in/icc/login.aspx  by the potential entrepreneurs / promoters willing to set up integrated cold chain projects in India. The last date for submitting application online is 17:00 Hrs on 30th April, 2018. For further information please visit http://mofpi.nic.in/sites/default/files/cc-eng.pdf

Under the scheme, the maximum admissible grant for each project would be at 35% of the eligible project cost for general areas and at 50% for North East states, Himalayan states, ITDP areas and Islands respectively, subject to maximum of INR 5 Crore per project.

o    MoFPI has invited proposals / Expression of Interest (EoI) from potential promoters for setting up Backward & Forward Linkages in the processed food industry of the country. The willing promoters / investors may submit their proposals through online portal (http://sampada-mofpi.gov.in/linkages/Login .aspx) only as per the revised operational guidelines for the Scheme for Creation of Backward & Forward Linkages dated 22.02.2018. The proposals / EoIs shall be submitted online only on or before 30.04.2018 by 5:00 PM. For further information please visit http://mofpi.nic.in/sites/default/files/bfl-eng.pdf