Harsimrat Kaur Badal, minister of food processing industries, has said that her ministry aimed to fast track the agro processing economy in India and expected that by the end of the year, major announcements would be delivered in foreign direct investment (FDI) in food retail.

And after the government’s decision to abolish the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) model, she expected that the investment will be done more easily. She said, “The road map for the next model for investment facilitation is being worked out by the government, and it will be out soon.”

Badal said that the FIPB has been abolished to simplify the process, and approval will be much faster than it is under the current system. She added that this was another step towards the ease of doing business.

Now FDI would come through the automatic route and is expected to boost the growth of the sector. To facilitate investment, the ministry has decided to create a targeting and facilitation desk.

“The desk shall help the investors collaborate, associate, network and source from India. The cell will also prepare a list of Indian companies for their foreign partners,” the minister said.

“It will identify new potential investors and approach them in a focused and structured manner for investment and follow up on the investment cases by providing hand-holding services. The desk will also assist the ministry in organising roadshows, both in India and abroad, and organising investment meets,” she added.

Meanwhile, MoFPI has already started receiving investment requests from domestic players like Grofers, Big Basket, Metro Cash and Carry and Amazon India. Together, $700 million is expected to be invested by these companies, of which $500 million will be invested by Amazon alone.

Avinash Ramchandran, director, public policy, Amazon, said the company was excited about the investment opportunity. “The ministry’s policies give us a lot of enthusiasm to be part of the initiative,” he said, adding that the retail giant was expecting an approval from the government for the investment soon.

Ashneer Grover, chief financial officer, Grofers, said, “The food and vegetable supply chain needs more control by the retailers to get the desired results on wastages and quality.”

“If we could control the end-to-end supply chain, it would help us mitigate the wastages and maintain quality,” he added, appreciating the investment opportunity in the food retail.

Badal, who has toured a few European countries and Japan in the past one year, is expected to visit the United States and Canada this year.