Indo Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) organised a roundtable with a high-powered Indian delegation on Food Processing Industries at the ICCC office on 03 May 2017. The delegation was led by Mr. Jagdish Prasad Meena, Special Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of India. Mr. Dinesh Bhatia, Consul General of India in Toronto also participated in the roundtable.

Mr. Arun Srivastava, President, ICCC, welcomed the delegation and said that the Chamber has been actively engaged in promoting B2B relations between Canadian and Indian entities and government relations in this sector for many years.

“Canada needs India more than India needs Canada, he said.” This is because India is the largest market for Canadian food grains including pulses and wheat. Canada and India have strong trading ties in agriculture and agri-foods sector. While the relationship encompasses all sectors of the value chain, and includes a wide range of merchandize, including manufactured and processed food, it is dominated by India’s import of food grains (peas and lentils). The bilateral trade in the sector is estimated to be over $600m.

Amb. Dinesh Bhatia, Consul General of India to Toronto said that the Government of India is actively engaged in taking the commerce and business relations between Canada and India to a new level. Canada is an important country for India and there is a lot of scope for the cooperation among the two countries. He emphasized that the Consul General office in Toronto would always be open to help the businesses to grow.

Mr. Jagdish Prasad Meena, Special secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of India gave a detailed presentation of food processing sector in India. He said that as the second largest developing economy of the world. India is 6th largest food and grocery market and second largest retail potential in the world. India has 1.25 billion consumers.

Food processing is a priority sector under ‘Make in India’ campaign started by the present government. India is setting up 42 mega food parks across the country and there is provision of 100% investment in the sector. Dairy, fisheries, fruits and vegetable, meat and poultry are the other sectors where the investment opportunities are available.

Canada and India can work together in the sector as Canada has developed technologies used in the food processing sector and collaboration in this sector can take the bilateral trade and commerce to a new level. 

Indian delegates and ICCC think tank discussing food processing opportunities