World Bank to sanction Rs 3,000 crore for food parks: Govt

New Delhi: The World Bank will provide Rs 3,000 crore funds to finance mini and mega food parks across the country, particularly in Northeast, and help boost farmers' income, Union Minister Rameswar Teli said on Friday.

Minor formalities remain to be completed on this front before the first disbursement of the sanctioned amount is released, the Minister of State for Food Processing Industries said.

He made the remarks while addressing 15th Indo-US Economic Summit organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce- North India Council (IACC- NIC) here.

"The World Bank has agreed to sanction Rs 3,000 crore for the Ministry of Food Processing to enable it finance mini and mega food parks across the country," Teli was quoted as saying at the event.

The minister, in a statement issued by IACC-NIC, urged India Inc to come forward and take advantage of the policies of the government to set up food processing units in the country in which the element of subsidies go to an extent of 75 per cent.

The government is trying its best to double the income of farmers and is laying lot of focus on mega and mini food parks so that processing of grains produced by farmers is done optimally and ultimately farmers gain with such policy decisions, he said.

"In fact, efforts are being put in to sanction food parks and mini food parks within 10 acres of land ceiling since huge landscapes are not available in every state," Teli added.

The minister also said the budget allocation for food processing ministry should be raised to Rs 3,000 crore a year from the current level of Rs 1,400 crore in order to boost the sector.

Yes Bank Senior President (Global Head Food and Agri Strategic Advisory and Research) Nitin Puri, Frick India Managing Director Jagmohan Singh as well as US Embassy official Mark Wallace were present at the event.