Govt clears 60 names to avail PLI scheme under food processing industry

New Delhi, Dec 7: Big names in the food processing industries such as Britannia, AMUL, Haldiram and ITC have got the nod to avail the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme of the government announced in March this year.

The PLI scheme is linked to the production and sale of products with the overriding objective of becoming global food manufacturing champions, promoting and developing Indian food products as known brands in the international market.

In all, approval was granted to 60 manufacturers under the segment of ready-to-eat, processed food and vegetables, marine products and mozzarella cheese. The manufacturers fall under category 1 of the scheme meant for large entities.

The list has been posted on the Ministry of Food Processing Industries website.

As per the list, the approved players are Britannia Industries Ltd, Haldiram Snacks Pvt. Ltd, Gujarat Co-Operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd, Parle Biscuits Pvt. Ltd, Bikaji Foods International Ltd, Bikanervala Foods Pvt. Ltd, Balaji Wafers Pvt. Ltd, Anmol Industries Ltd, and Hindustan Unilever Ltd.

The other players are Tata Consumer Products Ltd, Capital Foods Pvt. Ltd, Nestle India Ltd, DS Spice Pvt. Ltd, Dabur India, Parle Agro, MTR Foods Pvt. Ltd, Mccain Foods India, and Tasty Bite Eatables.

The four approvals granted for making mozzarella cheese are to Parag Milk Foods Ltd, Gujarat Co-Operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd, Sunfresh Agro Industries Pvt. Ltd and Indapur Dairy and Milk Products Ltd.

The government had in March this year cleared the PLI for the food processing industry with an outlay of Rs 10,900 crore. The scheme will be implemented over six years till 2026-27.

The selected applicants will be required to invest, as quoted in their applications in plant and machinery in the first two years such as 2021-22 & 2022-23.

The second component relates to support for branding and marketing abroad to incentivise the emergence of strong Indian brands.