UAE sets in motion USD 2-bn investment for food parks in India
In a mission to construct food parks across India, the I2U2 (India-Israel-UAE-USA) initiative reported that UAE has put its foot forward to commence allocating USD 2-bn investment following the announcement in the preceding fiscal year.
02 Jan 2024 | By Aditya Ghosalkar
The inaugural meeting of Leaders of India, Israel, UAE and USA in July 2022 (Source: PIB)
The seventh largest investor in India at USD 3.35-billion in FY 22-23, the UAE eyes a trade of over USD 100-billion in goods and USD 15-billion in services within five years, says an Invest India report. The growth is catalysed by the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed in February 2022 which acts as the growth engine for India-UAE bilateral trade.
At the Leaders’ Summit on July 14, 2022, the inaugural I2U2 summit transpired and the UAE made a significant announcement of USD 2-billion investment. The step was aimed at the construction of food parks in India that will leverage advanced agri tech, clean tech, and renewable energy technologies from Israel and the US.
The objective of the food corridor is to address the immediate challenges of food security and also strengthen regional ties, sustainable agriculture and a resilient future for both nations.
The food parks will incorporate advanced climate-smart technologies to yield optimum efficiency and conserve natural resources. These approaches aim to preserve freshwater and utilise renewable energy sources.
Previously, in India, the PMKSY (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana) scheme has encompassed numerous initiatives such as 41 mega food parks, 376 cold chain projects, 79 agro-processing clusters, 482 proposals for the Creation/Expansion of Food Processing & Preservation Capacities (CEFPPC), 61 projects for the creation of backward and forward linkages, 46 Operation Green projects, and 183 approved projects under food testing laboratories, with 140 projects already completed.
The UAE is collaborating with the State governments to set in place the contract agreements and permissions that precede the investment. It has sought approval from the Centre to ensure the ECA does not apply to commodities processed in the food parks up to a defined quantity, unlike the previous restriction on onions, rice and bananas.