As many as 17 food parks to be allocated to companies
Food Processing Minister, Harsimrat Kaur Badal announced that the government is now ready to allocate food parks to various companies by the end of March 2015. Out of the 72 proposals the Government received, only 17 companies will be allocated food parks at a minimum cost of Rs125 crores per park with a total investment of about Rs 2,100 crores. Already 25 food parks have been allocated and with this addition the total number would reach 42 in the country. The Ministry has ensured that each state has a food park.
The Mega Food Park Scheme aims to establish a strong food processing industry that has a fully backed supply chain with collection centres, central processing center and also cold chain infrastructure. The Minister hopes to see an increase in the food processing sector which presently stands at only 2% of total fruit, vegetable and grains produced in the country.
Burger King to go to Punjab and Bengaluru
After a successful launch in New-Delhi and Mumbai, where it opened 12 outlets only in November 2014, Burger King is all set to capture the fast food market in Bengaluru and Punjab.
The franchise owned fast food chain is very pleased with the response they have received and are looking forward to growing their outlets and providing a good fast food experience to their customers.
Established in 1954 Burger King is a hamburger based fast food restaurant. The brand has a number of signature recipes on its menu. The brand has a presence in 100 countries worldwide. Burger King is pledged to open 1000 restaurants in China and is now making a go of it in the India.
Food and Beverage Sector Could See Acquisition by Nepal’s CG Corp
CG Corp owned by Nepal’s first billionaire Binod K Chaudhary is looking to expand into India through mergers and acquisitions in the food and beverage sector. CG Corp owns Wai Wai noodles and to maintain its position they are planning to quadruple the production from the present half a billion packets in the coming years.
CG Foods India has a turnover of over Rs. 600 crores. Besides having acquisition on its agenda the company is hopeful of providing infrastructure as well as joint venture opportunities to the food and beverage companies in its food park in Rajasthan. They hope to set up a new plant in Rajasthan or MP even though they already have 7 plants in India and a good distribution network in the north-east India and a slight presence in the north but they wish to penetrate into south India now.
Subway Makes a Milestone: Opens 500th Restaurant
On 8th March on Woman’s Day Subway opened its 500th restaurant in India in Mumbai. As a tribute to women the subway restaurant is all women operated and has also been started by two women. Subway is a sandwich restaurant chain that is known for its emphasis on healthy foods. Consumers have also begun to focus on healthier eating and Subway has made good inroads by offering innovative foods including vegetarian fare that is also healthy.
Subway opened its first outlet in 2001, in New Delhi and the restaurant chain now has a presence in 70 cities across India. It is hoping to mark its presence in Tier II and Tier III cities and look forward to take their restaurant count to 1000 by 2018.
India wards off criticism on its sugar subsidies at WTO
Several members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) including the European Union, Australia and Colombia have criticized India for announcing subsidies on sugar. They have accused India of going against their understanding at WTO”s meeting in Bali in 2013 where India said that it would reduce all export subsidies. These countries claim that India is a major exporter and subsidies affect the world market negatively.
Presently India has managed to ward off the criticism as it had made no subsidy payment from February 2013 to September 2014. However, the Food and Public Distribution Ministry has now announced that a payment of Rs.200 crores will be made to raw sugar exporters. About 80 sugar mills from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat are likely to receive payments in March 2015. Earlier India had said that it provides subsidy to encourage sugar producers to diversify from refined to raw sugar.
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