PIB News Update: Inter-Ministerial Approval Committee (IMAC) meeting chaired by Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister for Food Processing Industries today approved 21 projects, leveraging investment worth Rs 443 crores supported with a grant of Rs. 189 Crores under the Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition. 8 projects leveraging investment worth Rs 62 crores with grants of Rs. 15 cr under the BFL Scheme were approved in another meeting chaired by Union FPI Minister. Shri Rameswar Teli, MoS, FPI was also present in the meeting.
Shri Tomar said that these projects would benefit farmers and consumers. He urged the officers to expedite the implementation of approved projects. 21 projects are likely to generate employment for nearly 12600 people and benefit 200592 farmers. These projects are spread across the 10 states of Andhra, Gujarat, HP, J&K, Kerala, Nagaland, Punjab, Telangana, UK, UP. The Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain and Value addition infrastructure aims at arresting post-harvest losses of horticulture & non-horticulture produce & providing remunerative price to farmers.
8 projects approved in another meeting are likely to generate employment for nearly 2500 people. The objective of the scheme is to provide effective and seamless backward and forward integration for the processed food industry by plugging the gaps in the supply chain in terms of availability of raw material and linkages with the market.
Sector-wise approved projects:
| S.No | Sector | Approved |
| 1 | Fruits & vegetables | 12 |
| 2 | Marine / Fisheries | 6 |
| 3 | RTE | 1 |
| 4 | Meat / Poultry | 1 |
| 5 | Irradiation | 1 |
| Total | 21 |
State-wise distribution:
| S.No | State / UT | Approved |
| 1 | Andhra Pradesh | 6 |
| 2 | Gujarat | 4 |
| 3 | Himachal Pradesh | 2 |
| 4 | Jammu & Kashmir | 1 |
| 5 | Kerala | 1 |
| 6 | Nagaland | 1 |
| 7 | Punjab | 1 |
| 8 | Telangana | 1 |
| 9 | Uttarakhand | 3 |
| 10 | Uttar Pradesh | 1 |
| Total | 21 |