Parliament Question: Boosting Farmer's Income through FPIs

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1898 ANSWERED ON 30TH JULY, 2026 BOOSTING FARMER'S INCOME THROUGH FPIS

1898. SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO:

Will the Minister of FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government is planning to increase the number of Food Processing Industries (FPIs) in rural areas to boost farmers' income and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether the Government is taking any additional steps to provide modern technology and financial assistance to micro food processing units, if so, the details thereof; and

(c) whether the Government is working on expansion of cold storage and value chain network to reduce wastage of fruits and vegetables after harvesting and if so, the details thereof? ANSWER THE MINISTER FOR FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES (SHRI CHIRAG PASWAN)

(a): In order to ensure overall development of food processing sector, Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) has been incentivizing setting up/expansion of related infrastructure through its two Central Sector Schemes namely Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (PMKSY) and Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Food Processing Industry (PLISFPI) and a Centrally sponsored scheme PM Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME). These schemes are demand driven and most of the projects approved under the schemes are in rural areas, thereby strengthening food processing/ preservation infrastructure and help in increasing the income of the farmers.

MoFPI has approved 1735 projects, as on 30.06.2026, having project cost of Rs.

33,163.34 crore with approved grants-in-aid/ subsidy of Rs 9,258.60 crore under corresponding component schemes of PMKSY.

A total of 2,00,421 micro food processing enterprises has been approved as on

30.06.2026 for credit linked subsidy and 4,18,293 members of Self Help Groups supported for seed capital amounting to Rs. 1438.29 crore in rural and urban areas of the country under PMFME Scheme.163 applications from 127 companies, at 212 locations have been approved across the country under different categories of PLISFPI scheme as on 30.06.2026 and total incentives of Rs. 3271.44 crore has been disbursed so far.

(b): Under PMFME scheme, financial, technical and business support is provided for setting up / upgradation of micro food processing enterprises. MoFPI supports entrepreneurship training, capacity building programmes and encourages adoption of modern technologies and food safety standards.

MoFPI, through its two autonomous Institutions namely, National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship & Management, Kundli, Haryana (NIFTEM-K) & National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship & Management, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu (NIFTEM-T), also provide handholding support, mentorship, training, access to facilities such as Pilot Plant, NABL-accredited Food Testing Labs, incubation services, quality testing, R&D support, networking opportunities, etc.

(c): MoFPI does not setup any food processing Industries on its own. However, it incentivizes setting up of such industries including processing of fruits & vegetables through its schemes.

Under Integrated Cold Chain & Value Addition Infrastructure, a component scheme of PMKSY, projects are supported with components such as pack houses, pre-cooling units, cold storage, controlled atmosphere (CA) storage, individually quick frozen (IOF) units, blast freezers, reefer vehicles, along with value addition and processing infrastructure. Similarly, under Scheme for Operation Greens, a component scheme of PMKSY, MoFPI provides financial assistance for value chain development of 10 fruit crops, 11 vegetable crops and shrimp in the identified production clusters. These ensure preservation of perishable commodities and reducing post-harvest losses.

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