By IANS,
Chennai : The government will set up two business incubation centres in Tamil Nadu and Haryana to promote the processed food industry among rural entrepreneurs, a official here said Thursday.
The centres will be set up at the Indian Institute of Crop Processing Technology (IICPT) in Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu and at the Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM) in Haryana.
“The incubation centre at IICPT will be inaugurated Friday. It will provide monetary as well as technical assistance to entrepreneurs planning to start a processed food unit,” said Food Processing Secretary Ashok Sinha.
The IICPT incubation centre is part of the ministry’s 100-day target announced earlier.
Five incubation centres will be set up at NIFTEM, of which two will be for research and development and will have experts from foreign universities, Sinha told reporters on the sidelines of Aahar 2009, a three-day international food exhibition organised by the Indian Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO).
There will also be a centre to assist other organisations in the field of food processing, he added.
According to Sinha, the finance ministry will be approached for additional funds as the budgetary allocation of Rs.340 crore for fiscal 2009-10 was inadequate.
“The allocation for our ministry for the 11th Plan period is Rs.4,000 crore. Though the annual allocations for us is on the rise, it is not sufficient to meet the actual demand, which is around Rs.1,000 crore per annum,” he pointed out.