Budget 2020: What does the food industry expect?

Representative image. (Getty images)

By Rohit Bhatla

''Since many players of the food processing industry fall under MSME, it is essential to provide access to credit facilities for capital expenditure at low-interest rates of 3% to 5%. The budget should also focus on ‘Increasing Exports’ Of Food Products along with GST relief and tax exemptions for the food processing sector. For example, a 12 - 18% GST is charged on processed tomato products vis-à-vis raw tomatoes. As a result, the consumer only buys processed products when the fresh tomato prices are high, this adversely impacts the capacity utilization of the processing industry and the benefits of food processing like lower wastages are not realized by the country."

(Rohit Bhatla - MD at Kagome Foods India)