Question : Food Parks-Mega Food Parks

(a) the details of the Food Parks/Mega Food Parks opened/being opened within the country, State/UT-wise including West Bengal, Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu;

(b) the details of the States which are still uncovered/unconnected with these parks across the country, State/UT-wise;

(c) the steps taken/being taken by the Government to connect these unconnected States;

(d) whether the Government is planning to set up a special fund under the NABARD for these parks; and

(e) if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise along with the number of Food Parks/ Mega Food Parks likely to be covered initially thereunder?

(a). The State-wise details of the Mega Food Parks sanctioned by Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) in the country including West Bengal, Maharashtra and Kerala are at Annexure-I. There is no Mega Food Park in State of Tamil Nadu.

(b). 12 States / UTs i.e. Goa, Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh, Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Puducherry, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep, Dadra and Nagar Haveli do not have any Mega Food Park project sanctioned by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries.

(c). The Mega Food Park proposals are received from various stakeholders/investors against Expressions of Interest (EoI) as and when invited by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI). Selection of suitable proposals for the Mega Food Park projects is done, based on the merit, through a stringent appraisal process as per the prefixed criteria prescribed in the scheme guidelines. Recently, MoFPI had issued EOI 02.08.2017 for inviting proposals from the uncovered States i.e. Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh for setting up of Mega Food Parks. Against this EOI, 10 proposals were received from uncovered States. Out of which, 4 proposals in the States of Uttar Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh have been selected in order of merit and issued in-principle approval against the vacancies / slots available under the Mega Food Parks Scheme.

(d) & (e). The special fund of Rs. 2,000 crore has been created in National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2014-15 for providing affordable credit to designated food parks and agro processing units located in the designated food parks. As per the guidelines for operationalisation of this fund, the designated Food Parks include (i) Food Parks sanctioned by Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), Government of India, (ii) Mega Food Parks promoted by MoFPI, (iii) Food Parks/ exclusive food processing industrial estates promoted by State Governments, (iv) Food processing/ agro processing/ multi products SEZs, including de-notified areas of these SEZs, designated by MoFPI and (vi) any other area having developed enabling infrastructure and designated as Food Parks by MoFPI. MoFPI has notified 176 designated food parks in various States based on the recommendations of the State Government concerned as enclosed at Annexure-II. The details of the projects sanctioned by NABARD under the above food processing funds till date are at Annexure-III.

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