More than 19 lakh employed in the food processing sector in 2017-18

New Delhi, August 3: The Centre on Tuesday informed the Parliament that there is no proposal at present to set up more national food technology institutes in the country.

Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Prahlad Singh Patel, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha, said the existing two institutes have been able to achieve the objectives for which they were set up. The two institutes are the National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM), Kundli, Haryana and the Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology (IIFPT) at Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu.

 While the former is offering 12 programmes, the latter is offering six courses in the field of food technology and allied services.

As per the annual survey of Industries, the Minister said, number of employees registered in the food processing sector in 2017-18 was 19,33,429. In the previous financial year, the number was 18,53,816 and 17,64,995 a year before that.