With India's food supply transitioning from shortage to abundance, the possibilities for boosting food processing levels are endless. In recent years, India's food processing sector has been noted for its strong growth and profits, resulting in an annual increase in the country's contribution to global food commerce. Sanjay Jain Jyoti group, being an expert in the field, illuminates that India has the potential to become a global leader in the food processing sector. 

The value of agricultural and processed food climbed dramatically from $17.8 billion in 2015-16 to $20.65 billion in 2019-20. The Indian agricultural sector is transitioning from primary to secondary agriculture, with a greater emphasis on the development of processed commodities. This business is expected to grow rapidly and profitably. The Indian government has been promoting agricultural exports in order to fulfil a $60 billion objective by 2022. According to the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, agricultural and processed food products account for 11 per cent of India's overall exports. Sanjay Jain of Jyoti group says, “The majority of the market is made up of primary processed agricultural goods. Focusing on value-added processed food products rather than primary processed agricultural commodities will boost India's export earnings.”

In India, the processing sector is still dominated by food processing, with only a small amount of high-value products such as chemicals made from ethanol produced. Proteins, starch, enzymes, adhesives, agar, biochemicals, and other items are all imported. India's food processing industry (FPI) is still in its infancy, processing less than 10 per cent of the country's agricultural output. In 2017-18, the FPI provided 7.9 per cent of industrial GVA and 9.5 per cent of agricultural value added. It was responsible for 1.8 million jobs in the registered and 5.1 million jobs in the unincorporated sectors but accounting for only 1.59 percent of the country's overall GVA. This shows that the country's bio-resources hold a lot of potential. 

Traditional commodities are giving way to non-traditional processed goods in India's agricultural export basket. Basmati rice has long been one of the most popular export items. Non-basmati rice exports, on the other hand, are at an all-time high right now. India exported 13.09 million tonnes of non-basmati rice worth $4.8 billion in 2020-21, up from an average of 6.9 million tonnes worth $2.7 billion during the preceding five years. 

Sanjay Jain of Jyoti Group informs , “In 2020-21, the value and total amount of cashew kernels, groundnuts, guar gum, and cocoa products exported decreased.” However, he adds, “Because India lacks comparative advantage in many categories, processed food exports have not been rising at a rapid enough rate. This could mean that domestic pricing for processed food products are significantly higher than global benchmark prices.”

Identifying the main objective of The Agriculture Export Policy, Sanjay Jain Jyoti Trading says, “The Major goal is to diversify and grow the export basket so that, instead of primary products, higher-value items such as perishables and processed food are exported more frequently. Processed food exporters face obstacles, as well as non-tariff measures implemented by other nations on Indian exports.”

Therefore, food processing enterprises should be nurtured, low-cost production and global food quality standards should be ensured, and a supportive environment should be created to boost processed food exports, according to the Centre's policy. For food imports, developed countries have set higher standards. Reputable Indian brands should be encouraged to export processed foods around the world since they can meet the global codex requirement. Cost competitiveness, global food quality standards, technology, and tapping the global processed food export market should all be priorities for Indian enterprises. In a variety of agricultural commodities, India has a competitive advantage that can be passed on to processed meals. In the food processing industry, it has the potential to become a global leader.

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