Skill Development in the Indian Food Processing Sector

Skill Development in the Indian Food Processing Sector

Prabodh Halde, Subhaprada Nishtala, Uday Annapure, K A Anu Appaiah, D. N. Kulkarni
Copyright: © 2013 |Pages: 14
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-2845-8.ch014
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Abstract

Known as the fruit and vegetable basket of the world, India ranks second in fruits and vegetables production in the world, after China. The food processing sector is one of the largest sectors in India in terms of production, growth, consumption, and export. There, however, exists a keen lack in processing and storage infrastructure and capabilities, which are essential to reducing the waste and enhancing the value addition and shelf life of the farm products. The government has ambitious plans to increase the level of processing from 6% to 20%, value addition from 20% to 35% and share in global food trade from 1.5% to 3% by 2015 (MOFPI, 2011). This will see a spike in the requirement for qualified and trained food processing professional across the food industry sectors. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the importance of education for manpower development in the food industry and how it can be used to convert unemployable graduates into employable graduates for the food industry. The authors believe that private-public alliance between the private industry and public institutions (PPP) is the need of the hour and has the potential to create tremendous impact at the national level as the graduates coming out of the universities become more versatile with practical outlook.
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Indian Food Industry

The Indian food industry is projected to grow by US$100 billion to US$ 300 billion by 2015, according to a report by a leading industry body and Technopak. During the period, the share of processed food in terms of value is expected to increase from 43 per cent to 50 per cent of total food production.

The food processing industry is of enormous significance for India's development as it has efficiently and effectively linked the nation’s economy, industry and agriculture.. The linking of these three pillars has synergized the development process and promoted the growth of the nation to a great extent.

There are 25,367 registered food-processing units in the country, with total invested capital of Rs 84,094 crore (US$17.81 billion), as per a competitiveness report of the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council. The food processing sector is presently growing at an average rate of 13.5 per cent per annum. The Vision Document 2015 envisages increasing the value addition from 20 per cent to 35 per cent by 2015.

Food processing industry is one of the largest industries operating in India and is divided into several segments.

The Food Processing Industry operates across various segments that include:

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    Fruits and vegetables

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    Meat & poultry

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    Dairy

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    Marine products

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    Grains and consumer foods (that includes packaged food, beverages and packaged drinking water).

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