Propositions for a high-quality, affordable and sustainable ‘Food Basket’ : scope of cooperation between India & Germany in areas relating to food processing industry

The food processing industry in India is a sunrise industry, which has been growing above-average and is expected to grow further. Even though India has a large agricultural sector, the food processing industry has traditionally played a small role and it is only recently that it has been promoted as a measure to increase food security and generate employment. Germany’s food processing industry is a well-developed industry that is globally competitive. Nevertheless, it is faced with saturation in the domestic market, as far as conventional foods are concerned. Emerging, significant trends in Germany are health and wellness-enhancing and disease-preventing food products that are often organically produced, procured through fair trade and are increasingly plant-based (vegetarian/vegan), which coincides with the increasing popularity of Ayurveda and Yoga. These trends can be seen as areas where India has been traditionally strong. The two countries, thus, have enormous opportunities to collaborate. While German firms can participate in the growing market of India, Indian firms can benefit from the emerging trends in Germany, which play to India’s deep-rooted advantages. Indian companies can also benefit from the vocational trainings and other skill development programmes well-entrenched in the German food processing industry. In addition, India and Germany can engage in collaborative technology development efforts to develop frugal innovations in the food processing industry and in related sectors such as food processing and packaging equipment. Indo-German collaboration in the food processing industry has benefits that go well beyond the geographic limits of the two nations. The joining of forces can enhance the sustainability of the global food security and contribute to the fight against global food wastage & loss, hunger and poverty.Investment & Technology Promotion Division, Ministry of External Affairs, New Delh