Bilateral government trade agency backed service will aim to help retail food and supply chain companies export to India
Bilateral government trade agency backed service will aim to help retail food and supply chain companies export to India
Retail food and supply chain companies across the UK are being urged to sign up to a brand new service to boost their export success to India – a country where food processing alone is predicted to be a £159-billion industry by 2015.
The new service launches on 1 July and is being offered by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC), the business led organisation backed by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) to boost UK India bilateral trade. This service is targeted at companies, especially small to midsized enterprises (SMEs) looking to enter India or that are new to India.
For a fee of £35 per month, the UKIBC said sector members will receive intelligence, invitations to events, reports, and create ‘communities’ linking large and small companies around new business opportunities in the retail, food processing and supply chain logistics sector. The service will include insightful reports packed with in-depth market research and new business opportunities in the Indian agribusiness and food processing sectors. Online, the retail sector page will be regularly updated with fresh reports and analysis, all with the aim of helping businesses better understand the market, identify profitable business opportunities and connect with potential partners. Sector members will also get exclusive access to an online business-to-business (B2B) hub to meet and connect with Indian and UK businesses.
Exploiting business opportunities
Richard Heald, UK India Business Council chief executive, said: “I urge food, supply chain and logistics companies to focus on the huge opportunities existing in fast growing economies like India. Not only is India the tenth largest economy in the world and the fourth largest by purchasing power parity, but industrial growth is also picking up, offering many UK firms the chance to export their way out of the downturn here.
“The UKIBC’s new sector subscription service can be a catalyst to helping our companies form partnerships with Indian business and Government. This can seem like a huge leap but businesses big and small around the world are finding fantastic opportunities in India every single day.”
UKIBC corporate members are companies that are already established in India and play an active role in the UK-India business agenda. The sector members will be companies that are exploring the Indian market and can benefit from information and access to businesses already operating there.
Healthy growth forecasts
The Indian government has been granting significant tax breaks and subsidies in the food processing sector, including full exemption from excise duty for specified equipment to preserve, store or transport apiary, horticultural, dairy, poultry, aquatic and marine produce and meat and its processing products. The UKIBC said this presents a huge opportunity for UK SMEs operating in the cold chain and food retail sectors. India’s food processing sector constitutes 47% of the total Indian food industry and is valued at approximately £46 billion (secondary and tertiary processing sectors) compared to an overall amount of £112 billion.
The food processing industry is currently growing at a rapid rate of 15-20% and is poised to reach £159 billion by 2015. It comprises almost 21% of India’s gross domestic product (GDP), making it the biggest consumption category and key driver of growth.
Despite the UK being the largest recipient of Indian inward investment into Europe, the UK’s share of exports to the Indian market has fallen overall in the last five years. UKIBC believes that the new service will help UK companies export their way out of the current downturn.
