The Hindu Business Line : Pune chamber unveils handbook for entrepreneurs

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Pune Feb 16 A handbook titled `Food Processing Industry in Pune District - Study-cum directory' has been compiled by the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) to give a helping hand for entrepreneurs who would like to begin their enterprise in Pune district.

The industry currently attracts Rs 300 crore of investment in plant and machinery and has a total employee strength of around 30,000.

Ms Manasi Phadke, Economist and Economic Advisor to the Chamber, said that the directory has been brought out to give information to entrepreneurs and to create a database on existing units in Pune.

The directory is divided into three parts - the first gives general information for setting up a food processing unit, the second is a study on the existing units in Pune, while the third is the directory of 450 food processing units, 200 traders and 200 allied machinery and service providers. The survey, which began in September 2006, has managed to locate around 500 units that worked out of premises, distinctly separate from home kitchens.

The survey covered 450 units working in different segments such as spices, dairy, fruits and vegetable processing, grain processing, bakery and confectionery, meat, poultry, etc.

The food processing industry in Pune district, valued at Rs 1,800 crore, comprises one per cent of national output.

The survey they had found that for every Rs 10 lakh invested in plant and machinery, the industry employed 8.74 people, which is higher than the national average of 5.4. She added that 40-odd units exported various processed food products worth Rs 150 crore (1.2 per cent of national processed food exports).

The survey also noted that the Pune food processing industry is dominated by micro units.

Of the 1,320 units that are alive, 82 per cent come under the category of micro units having an investment of less than Rs 25 lakh. Of these, 80 per cent had an investment of less than Rs 10 lakh.

However, they played a major role not because of their numbers but because of the employment they generated; more than 50 per cent of the employment in the food processing industry is generated by micro enterprises.

These units have 10 per cent share in the industry investment and 18 per cent share in industry output.

Ms Phadke also said that the survey has come up with certain recommendations to boost the industry.

Some of them are reducing number of registrations and licences, computerising registrations, making the Ministry of Food Processing Industries the nodal agency in charge of all registrations and licences, strengthening existing institutions to develop collaborative agencies for assisting micro units, reducing taxation irritants and providing good quality infrastructure for promoting growth.

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