Year End Review 2022 of Ministry of Food Processing Industries

· Total 46 new projects approved under Operation Greens Scheme in the Calendar Year 2022 with an outlay of Rs. 2218.69 Crore

· The export of Processed Food Products has increased from US$ 8.56 billion in 2020-21 to US$ 10.42 Billion in 2021-22

· 12 brands have been launched to promote various One District, One Product under the Branding & Marketing component of PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises scheme

· Under PLI Scheme for Food Processing Industry, a total of 182 applications approved under different categories including 30 applications under the PLI Scheme for Millet Based products

· Virtual Inauguration of 75 Food Processing Projects by Union Minister for Food Processing Industries, Pashupati Kumar Paras

· ‘Food Processing Week 2.0’ organized by the M/o Food Processing Industries, under ‘Kisan Bhagidari Prathmikta Hamari’ Campaign under the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' umbrella

Achievements of MoFPI - (January to December -2022)

A. Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotssav

· ‘Food Processing Week 2.0’ organized by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, under the ‘Kisan Bhagidari Prathmikta Hamari’ Campaign by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare under the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' umbrella.

· Virtual Inauguration of 75 Food Processing Projects by Union Minister for Food Processing Industries, Pashupati Kumar Paras.

B. Creation Infrastructure Facilities

· A total of 112 food processing projects were completed/operationalized covering - Mega Food Park:1, ColdChain:15, Units:71, Agro-Processing Clusters(APC):4, Food Testing Laboratories:20, Backward & Forward Linkage projects:1

· The 112 completed projects have created additional processing and preservation capacity of agricultural produce of 23.08 lakh MT per annum. 15 cold chain infrastructure projects created additional milk processing and storage capacity of 23.30 lakh liter per day and 9.25 MT/hour of IQF (Instant Quick Freezing) of fruits and vegetables.

· The 112 completed projects leveraged private investment of Rs. 706.04 crore and generated direct and indirect employment for 25293 persons.

C. Approval of New Infrastructure Facilities

· A total of 190 food processing projects were sanctioned viz; Agro Processing Clusters:23, Cold Chain:33, Units:120, Food Testing Laboratories:12 and Mega Food Park:2

I. Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan

II. Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLIS) for the Food Processing Industries

As part of Hon’ble Prime Minister’s announcement of Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, the Government, on 31^st March, 2021, approved a Central Sector Scheme, namely “Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Food Processing Industry” with an outlay of INR 10,900 crores to be implemented for a period of seven years from 2021-2022 to 2026-27.

The primary objectives of this scheme are to support creation of global food manufacturing champions; support Indian brands of food products in the international markets; increase employment opportunities of off-farm jobs; and ensure remunerative prices of farm produce and higher income to farmers.

Specific food product segments, having high growth potential have been identified for providing support under the scheme. These include ready to cook/ready to eat (RTC/ RTE) foods including millet based products, processed fruits & vegetables, marine products and mozzarella cheese. Support to innovative and organic products of SMEs for these product segments and overseas Branding & Marketing are also covered under the scheme. A component for Millet Based Products has subsequently carved out from the scheme, with an outlay of ₹800 Crore, to encourage the use of Millets in RTC/RTE products and incentivising them under the PLI Scheme to promote its value addition and their sale in domestic and export markets.

Under the PLI Scheme for Food Processing Industry, a total of 182 applications have been approved under different categories including 30 applications (8 large entities and 22 SMEs) under the PLI Scheme for Millet Based products.

The implementation of PLI scheme is likely to facilitate expansion of food processing capacity by nearly Rs. 30,000 crore and create additional direct and indirect employment opportunities for about 2.5 lakh persons by the year 2026-27. The investments by the PLI beneficiaries is likely to result in increase in sales and export of food products. A positive stimulus to domestic industry is expected as the scheme stipulates that in order to get incentive, the entire chain of manufacturing processes, including primary processing of the food products shall take place in India. The scheme will also facilitate promotion of Indian brands abroad.

As per the data being reported by the PLIS beneficiaries, investment of about ₹4900 Crores has been made under the Scheme. Incentives amounting to ₹800 Crores are likely to be disbursed in the current financial year. Sales based incentive of ₹107.3 Crores has been disbursed so far.

Stakeholder consultations are also underway for introducing a PLI Scheme for Nutraceutical sector to enable this sector to reach its potential and find its rightful place.

II. PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME)

The Prime Minister- Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PM-FME) scheme, aimed at promoting ‘vocal for local’ in the sector, under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, was launched in June 2020 to support 2 lakh micro food processing units with credit linked subsidy with a total outlay of Rs. 10,000crores over the period 2020-2025.

The Scheme adopts One District One Product (ODOP) approach to reap the benefit of scale in terms of procurement of inputs, availing common services, and marketing of products. These ODOP has been approved for 713 districts of 35 States/ UTs with 137 unique products.

· Capacity Building & Training

· 760 training modules (ODOP) developed containing Presentations, Videos, DPR and Course Content/Handbook and are available on the PMFME website - https://www.mofpi.gov.in/pmfme/

· 486 Master Trainers of 35 States/UTs were trained.

· Training of 931 District Level Trainers for EDP and Food Processing concluded in 26 States/UTs and ongoing in other States

· 10910 Beneficiaries trained in 26 States/ UTs.

· 972 DRPs were trained on EDP & ODOP in 32 State/UTs.

· Seed Capital

· SHG members engaged in food processing activities are being identified with help of DAY-NRLM under Ministry of Rural Development and DAY-NULM under Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

· Seed Capital amount of Rs. 252.53 Cr. has been released to SRLM for 79,693 SHG members

· Seed Capital amount of Rs. 56.06 Cr. released to SULM for 16,159 members.

· Branding and Marketing:

· 12 brands have been launched to promote various ODOPs under the Branding & Marketing component of the scheme. These include Dilli Bakes (Bakery), Makhana King (Foxnuts), Kashmiri Mantra (Spices),Amrit Phal (Aamla), Madhu Mantra (Honey), Somdana (Millets), Cori Gold (Coriander), Madhurmithas (Jaggery), Pind Se (Pickle), Madhurmithas (Pineapple Candy), Aasnaa (Murabba, Jaggery) and Bhimthadi ( Millets).

· Branding and Marketing proposal for phase 2 from NAFED amounting to Rs.19.75 Cr approved by the Inter-Ministerial Empowered Committee (IMEC)

· 4 State level for Branding & Marketing, two from the State of Karnataka under the brand names “Seemi” and “Bhima” and two from the State of Andhra Pradesh under the brand names “Madugula Halwa” and “Aamodam” approved by the Inter-Ministerial Empowered Committee (IMEC).

· Incubation Centre:

76 proposals with an Outlay of Rs. 205.95 Crore have been approved which are mainly State Agriculture University, ICAR-KVKs, etc.

· Credit Linked Subsidy:

· 58,354 individual applications received out of which 13,638 loans were sanctioned of Rs. 1305.74 crores by Banks. Rs. 129.76 Cr. of Centre share of Credit linked grant has been released to 5210 individual beneficiaries.

· State Level Upgradation Plan (SLUP)

· 35 States/ UTs have appointed agencies for conducting studies for State Level Up-gradation Plan (SLUP).

· SLUPs of Bihar, Dadra Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh finalized.

· PM-FME Scheme related Promotional Activities

· 24 editions of the PMFME e-newsletter have been successfully published and reached more than 7 lakh stakeholders.

· 51 ODOP Webinars/Offline Workshops are being conducted by States/UTs and NIFTEM/IIFPT

· 69 success stories of the beneficiaries of the PMFME Scheme published since March 2021 till date via the MoFPI Website and MoFPI and PMFME social media handles.

· Scheme-related posts regularly published on PMFME social media handles which include Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and WhatsApp. Special focus on user engagement on social media through contests/quiz in collaboration with MyGov.

· Convergence

· A Joint SoP has been signed with Ministry of Agriculture for the convergence with “Agriculture Infrastructure Scheme” to provide the benefit of Interest Subvention to PMFME Beneficiaries.

E. Operation Green scheme

· Ministry has been implementing a Central Sector Scheme- “Operation Greens” under Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana since November, 2018. The scheme has two components namely short term interventions and Long Term Interventions i.e. Value Chain Development Projects.

· In pursuance of budget announcement 2021-22, the scope of long term interventions i.e. value chain development under this scheme has been expanded from TOP crops to 22 Crops. The scheme guidelines for 22 crops along with the list of production clusters have been notified on 08.06.2022 and now, Grants-in-aid is provided in the range of 35%-50% for setting up of value chain development projects.

· Expression of Interest (EOI) for inviting project proposals from eligible entities as per scheme guidelines was floated on 21.06.2022 and in total 44 projects have been approved in November, 2022 against 56 applications received. In addition, provisional approval has been given by the Ministry recently for two more Value Chain Development projects for Onion and Potato. Thus, total 46 new projects approved under Operation Greens Scheme in the Calendar Year 2022.

· The details of 46 new projects are as under.

o Total Project Cost: Rs. 2218.69 Crore

o Approved Grants-in-aid: Rs. 466.66 Crore^*

o Private Investment Leveraged: Rs.1752.03 Crore

o Total Processing Capacity expected to be created: 8,21,780 MT per Annum

o Total Preservation Capacity expected to be created: 1,81,616 MT

o Employment Generation: 1,01,559 Nos.

o Farmers to be benefitted: 1,42,554 Nos.

· Direct Subsidy through Kisan Rail was continued till 31.03.2022 and it has been discontinued w.e.f. 01.04.2022.

· Total subsidy disbursed through direct claims under short term interventions in the Calendar Year 2022 till 20.12.2022 is Rs. 29.59 crore against 277 claims for transportation and storage of 2,97,075 MT of notified fruits & vegetables.

F. Economic Achievement of Food Processing Sector

1. Food processing sector has been identified as one of the Champion Sectors under “Make in India” and has emerged as an important segment of the Indian economy in terms of its contribution to GDP, exports, investment and employment.

2. The export of Processed-Food Products has increased from US$ 8.56 billion in 2020-21 to US$ 10.42 Billion in 2021-22. The share of processed food exports in total Agri- food exports has increased to 22.6% in 2021-22.

3. During 2021-22, food processing sector attracted US$ 709.72 Million of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

G. Promotional Activities

· AKAM – April 2022

· In order to commemorate 75 years of India's independence, the Government of India is celebrating the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.' As a part of the celebration, Ministry of Food Processing Industries organized ‘Food Processing Week 2.0’ from 25^th to 30^th April, 2022 under ‘Kisan Bhagidari Prathmikta Hamari’ Campaign by Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare under the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' umbrella.

· The Ministry launched the ‘Food Processing Week 2.0’ on 25^th April, 2022, through a social media campaignunder which awareness about the schemes of the Ministry, the success story of the beneficiaries of the schemes of the Ministry were covered on social media throughout the week. Apart from this, ODOP workshop and exhibition on Processing and Value Addition of One District One Product is also being organized under PMFME scheme in many districts across the country.

· In this sequence, Union Minister for Food Processing Industries, Pashupati Kumar Paras virtually inaugurated 75 (seventy-five) food processing projects of Central Sector Scheme - Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana.

· The total cost of these projects is about Rs. 1238 crores, and the Ministry has provided financial support through grant of Rs. 309 crores for these projects. These projects will provide direct and indirect employment to about 36,000 people and benefit about 4 lakhs 63 thousand farmers.

· Food Processing Summits:

· Ministry of Food Processing Industries organized food processing summits in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Andaman, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Mizoram, Manipur, Sikkim and Meghalaya during May 2022 and December 2022 respectively for creating awareness of various initiatives of Government of India in the agri-food sectors, Ministry’s schemes, investment opportunities etc. These summits witnessed participation of stakeholders, including Farmer Producer Organization’s (FPOs), entrepreneurs, corporates, bankers, State departments etc.

· Social Media Activities:

· Monthly Social Media Campaigns are being launched to spread awareness regarding Covid-19.

· ‘Under the Amrit Mahotsav, Know Your Scheme’ three-month social media campaigns being run by the Ministry in which, one post related to MOFPI Scheme & sub-schemes are being posted regularly over the social media handles.

· Union Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras inaugurated ‘NIFTEM Capacity Building Centre’ & launched the Makhana King ODOP brand in Patna, Bihar in Month January 2022. The inauguration was widely disseminated on all the social media handles of the Ministry.

· Union Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras and MoS Prahlad Singh Patel launched 3 ODOP Brands & 5 products developed under the branding and marketing component of the #PMFMEScheme. The 3 brands launched were Pind Se, Madhurmithas & Anaras from Amritsar, Muzaffarnagar and RiBhoi district and the 5 products launched were Mango Pickle, Jaggery Powder, Spicy Dried Pineapple, Kashmiri Masala Paste and Lemon Honey.

· "Centre of Excellence in Non-thermal Processing, NIFTEM-T Entrance Arch & Woman's Day Special Awareness Program on PMFME Scheme for SHGs was Virtually Inaugurated by Union Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras & MoS Prahlad Singh Patel in March2022.

· Ministry participated in the “AAHAR 2022” event, an International Food and Hospitality Fair in association with APEDA in the month of April at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. A total number of 33 beneficiaries of the Schemes of the Ministry were allocated stalls free of cost to exhibit their products, and to hold B2B meetings.

· Ministry also participated in 15^thedition session of Annapoorna and FOODWORLDINDIA at Mumbai in September 2022. Hon’ble Minister of State Prahlad Singh Patel Inaugurated the event. A total number of 18 beneficiaries of the Schemes of the Ministry were allocated stalls free of cost to exhibit their products, and to hold B2B meetings.

· Union Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras and Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar inaugurated the 'Convergence Portal' in September, 2022.

· The ‘Sashakt Bharat Ki AatmanirbharNaari’ campaign was held on the occasion of ‘Women's Day’ from 1 March 2022 to 30 March 2022 and “Anna Devo Bhava-Food for All 2.0” online quiz competition was run in collaboration with MyGov. The competition was hosted on MyGov Platform and on Ministry of Food Processing Industries’ social media handles during the period from 11 March 2022 to 31 March 2022.

· To celebrate World Food Day, 15 days’ campaign was launched over the Social Media handles of the Ministry in October 2022 & to widely promote the International Year of Millet 2023 posts related to Millet-based processed food were shared during this period.

· A social media campaign on Swatchh Office was launched to spread awareness related to cleanliness in the office premise.

· Various campaigns were launched on the occasions like Vigilance day, Constitutions day and Ayurveda day for one week respectively.

· MoFPI participated in the 3-days SIAL INDIA 2022and the event was covered on all the MoFPI’s social media handles. A total number of 38 beneficiaries of the Schemes of the Ministry were allocated stalls free of cost to exhibit their products, and to hold B2B meetings.

· Investment Promotion

Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), Government of India has set up a dedicated Investment Facilitation Cell with Invest India – the national investment promotion and facilitation agency of Government of India. Some of the key activities undertaken under Investment Promotion during 2022 were as follows –

1) Regular interactions with State Government and UT Administrations through Project Development Cell of MoFPI, to discuss about development of investible projects, potential investment interest, company specific issues, creating awareness about various initiatives of Government of India in the food processing sector

2) Food processing summits were organized in various states / UT such as Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Andaman & Nicobar etc. These summits focused on creating awareness about benefits under MoFPI schemes, B2G interactions etc.

3) Interactions were held with Indian and Foreign Missions to promote opportunities and attract investments in Indian food processing sector

4) Active participation in domestic events such as AAHAR 2022, Annapoorna ANUFOOD India and SIAL 2022. During these events, initiatives of the Ministry were showcased amongst relevant stakeholders, interactions were held with participating business visitors.

· Skill Study Commissioned by MoFPI and its outcomes: -

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) commissioned a study titled "Study to assess Human Resource and Skill Requirements in Indian Food Processing Sector during 2021-2030” in October 2020 through M/s. Feedback Business Consulting Services Private Limited, Bangalore. The study was mandated to cover 11 sub-sectors of the Food Processing Sector as they are considered the major segments in terms of production, huge scope for increasing processing levels, the requirement of the skilled labour force in these sub-sectors, etc. The 11 sub-sectors are – Bread and Bakery products, Cold Chain (including logistics), Dairy Products, Fish and Seafood processing, Fruits & Vegetables Processing, Meat & Poultry Processing, Milling (Grains & Oilseeds), Beverages (Tea & Coffee), Ready-to-Eat & Ready-to-Cook Products, Soya Processing and Spices. The above Study report was finally accepted by the Ministry in September 2022 and has since been published on the Ministry’s website. The above study has identified that the net expected number of skilled human resource requirement in these 11 sub-sectors of Food Processing during 2021-30 is around 13.4 Lakh”.

G. Achievements of NIFTEMs

I. NIFTEM-Kundli, Haryana

· In NIRF India Rankings 2022 under the Engineering category, NIFTEM-K scored 37.96 and ranked 127 among 1249 Institutions participated.

· NIFTEM-K conducted its 4^th Convocation on 24 June 2022 in which B.Tech., M.Tech., MBA and Ph.D. degrees were conferred on students passed out from the Institute in the Academic Year 2020 and 2021 by the Honourable Chancellor, NIFTEM Deemed to be University, Smt. Anita Praveen, Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Govt. of India. The Union Minister of State, MoFPI, Prahlad Singh Patel was the Chief Guest. He honoured 19 students with Ph.D. degrees and awarded Gold Medals to 14 top rankings students of B. Tech., 5 disciplines of M. Tech. and MBA passed out at the end of academic years 2020 and 2021.

· In all 525 students were conferred Degrees in the 4^th Convocation. It included 306 B. Tech., 155 M. Tech., 45 MBA and 19 Ph.D. graduates.

· About 37% of B. Tech., 34% of M. Tech. and 52% of MBA students received paid internships.

· Overall, 84% B. Tech., 98% M. Tech. and 100% MBA students were selected in campus placement by companies/industries, with overall placement of 93.33% for the year 2021-2022.

· There was 100% placement in the MBA and 4 disciplines of M. Tech.

· R&D Portal, a repository of the country's R&D works on Food processing technologies and Value addition is developed by NIFTEM, and continuously updated jointly by MoFPI, NIFTEM-K and NIFTEM-T. The website present the information on products, processes and technology development as well as latest innovations by different Food Technology development Institutes of the country to all categories of users such as entrepreneurs, industry, promoters, consumers, researchers, students and many more. At present, the portal has 355 technologies developed in India.

· NIFTEM-K has obtained 2 patents entitled “New Method for Preservation of Sugarcane Juice” and “A Refrigerator Operable on both AC and DC Supply”. Two more patents have been filled.

· Copyright for “3D Printing of PidiKollukatti” has been obtained. One more copyright has been registered.

· CFRA, an advanced Food Testing facility set up by NIFTEM in 2018 as a referral laboratory of FSSAI. It has acquired the prestigious accreditation of ISO/IEC17025-2017 from NABL, and integrated accreditation from FSSAI & APEDA for food quality testing. There are more than 2500 test parameters accredited by NABL in chemical and biological disciplines.

· NIFTEM-K has joined hands with GAIN, an international development sector partner and Hexagon Nutrition, a leading food and nutraceutical company to set up a Centre of Excellence for Food Fortification with aim to address the problem of malnutrition, including the micronutrient malnutrition, through scalable solutions. It has three demonstration units of fortification of wheat flour (capacity 50 kg/h), edible oil (capacity 50 kg/h) and rice.

· NIFTEM-K PMFME-PMU has prepared Video, PPT, DPR, and Handbook on 62 unique products with 95 sub-categories and all the contents are translated to 13 regional languages.

· NIFTEM-K observed Nutrition month (September 2021), Hindi Pakhwada (14-28 September 2021) and International Women’s Day (8 March 2022) with several events befitting to the celebration.

· NIFTEM-K Technology Innovation and Business Incubation Foundation (NTIBIF) conducted its first Cohort N-SIP 1, and incubated 5 Startups with business ideas ranging from ready to cook curries, farm to fork model based business, Suvarnahaldi infused cookies and green tea, millet based cookies and wellness and immunity boosting tonics and products.

· NTIBIF launched its second program N-SIP 2 on 20 February 2022. Total 10 incubates have been selected for the program.

· COLLABORATIONS AND UNDERSTANDINGS WITH INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

· NIFTEM, Haryana entered into research collaborations by signing MoUs with 3 Institutions outside India and 16 Institutions within India.

· Technologies Transferred to Industries

· NIFTEM-K has transferred a technology on “Gluten free cookies” to M/s Freakeat Food Pvt. Ltd., Kundli. Further, 8 food technologies have been assigned to NRDC for their transfer.

· New Facilities Created for Research, Training, and Consultancy Services

· The Capacity Building Centre (CBC) of Patna has been started functioning for the implementation of the PMFME Scheme. It acts as a centre point for the neighbouring states Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and Eastern Uttar Pradesh in the capacity building activities. CBC Patna has organized 8 training programs.

· The academic Departments organized 6 EDPs and FDPs / Training Programmes / Webinars on Food Entrepreneurship and Management.

· The NIFTEM-K Pilot plants facilitated the start-ups for trials on product development, and conducted trainings. The Pilot plat generated revenue of ` 4899196/- for the financial year 2021-2022.

· PMFME-PMU Completed 4 EDP+ training and trained 111 Master Trainers covering 34 States/UTs. Completed 2 Bakery and Confectionery training and trained 40 Master Trainer from 22 States/UTs. Completed MIS training to District Resource Person for 30 States. Completed DPR preparation training to District Resource Person for 25 States. Completed FSSAI training to District Resource Person for 16 States. Completed MIS training to SRLM and SULM for 11 States. Completed DPR Preparation training to SRLM and SULM for 10 States.

· Under MoFPI funded project on Development of Learning Material, the Skill Development Division, NIFTEM-K prepared NSQF aligned Participant Handbook, Facilitators Guide, Syllabus and Assessment Guide for 13 selected job roles in food processing. Further, the learning materials were translated in Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Assamese and Marathi.

· Capacity Building under PMFME-

· PMFME PMU organized 7 capacity building programs on ODOPs and trained 645 persons.

· RESEARCH

Research Publications

v. NIFTEM has completed 20 projects funded by external agencies such as Government of India, (MoFPI, DST, DBT, CSIR, DRDO, DAE etc.), State government, Private foundations, industries or trusts and International funding agencies. The faculty members of NIFTEM in the year 2021-2022 have received 7 externally funded projects (total funding Rs. 3.55 Crore) covering various domains of food processing sector such as development of functional food and protein rich traditional food products, rice fortification, thermal processing, biotic impact and carbon footprint, development of course content for skill development and setting up of nutritional research centre. Further, there are 9 external funded research projects ongoing in NIFTEM.

v. Faculty members of NIFTEM-K published 215 research papers in the reputed International and National Journals, 24 Book Chapters, and presented 7 technical papers in International and National Conferences.

v. NIFTEM extends financial support to its faculty members to undertake small scale research and need based research with outcomes having potential for raising to industrial scale through competitive seed money concept. NIFTEM has sanctioned 6 projects (total sanctioned fund of Rs. 12.41 Lakhs) for seed money funding in the year 2021-2022. There are 11 projects ongoing and 3 projects completed under seed money funding.

v. In order to address the specific research gaps and develop technologies for post-harvest processing and value addition of agricultural and horticultural crops through multi-disciplinary approach, NIFTEM encourage faculty members from across the Departments to work together and find appropriate solutions. The consortium projects were initiated in 2021-2022 with FST and FE Departments proposing to work on millets and citrus fruits.

v. NIFTEM Innovation Fund Scheme (NIFS), an internal funding initiative aims to encourage the innovative research and development ideas of NIFTEM students (B. Tech / M. Tech / MBA) in the food processing and allied areas. The work will result in proof-of-concepts, design of equipment etc, with high societal and commercial impact. Few of the projects availed during the last years by the students resulted in benchmark in innovation while achieving intellectual rights for the technologies.

v. Contract Research Organization (CRO) has been established in NIFTEM with the aim to foster an ecosystem of sustainable collaborative research with industries (including large and small, start-ups and non-profit organizations) and renowned academic and research institutes (India and abroad).The mission of CRO is to act as an effective interface for translating the academic research and innovation to industry while promoting and sustaining commercialization of science and technology in the Institute for mutual benefits.

v. The Research & Development Portal, repository of the country's R&D works on Food processing technologies and Value addition is developed by NIFTEM, and continuously updated jointly by MoFPI, NIFTEM, Kundli and NIFTEM, Thanjavur. The R&D Portal is an initiative of Ministry of Food Processing Industries to present the information on products, processes and technology development as well as latest innovations by different Food Technology Development Institutes of the country. The website provides easy and wider access to all categories of users such as entrepreneurs, industry, promoters, consumers, researchers, students and many more. The website is expected to bridge the gap between the recognized food processing institutes / government organizations and the information / technology seekers.

II. NIFTEM-Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu

· AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

· Secured 86^th rank among all engineering colleges by National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2022 by Ministry of Education, Govt. of India.

· Dr. Jeyan A. Moses received the prestigious International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST) Young Scientist Award 2022. The award was conferred during the 21^st World Congress held at Singapore from 31^st Oct. to 3^rd Nov. 2022

· Technologies Transferred to Industries

· Millet Pasta technology

· Millet Flakes technology

· Neera Sugar Crystal Technology

· New Facilities Created for Research, Training, and Consultancy Services

· Centre of Excellence in Non-thermal processing which comprises pulsed electric field unit, super critical extraction unit, food irradiation system, sensors for quality testing, High pressure processing unit, pulsed light processing unit, continuous ultra sound unit and oscillating magnetic field unit.

· COLLABORATIONS AND UNDERSTANDINGS WITH INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

· NIFTEM-T has signed 4MoUs with National Institutions and 1 MoU with Foreign University, 4 MoAs/Licensing agreements with industries for conducting joint research projects, technology development and technology transfer.

· ENTERPRENEURSHIP, TRAINING AND OUTREACH

· A full-fledged food processing business incubation centre has been established to provide hands-on-training on different food processing technologies, food processing machineries renting facilities and other incubations support services to support entrepreneurs in converting their innovative ideas in new food product development. Small scale Fruits & Beverages processing lines, virgin coconut oil processing line, ice cream production line, baking unit, confectionery production line, different types of drying units, extraction units and extruded food systems, onion processing unit are available for training purpose.

· 69 entrepreneurship training programs on production of various food products to SHGs, FBOs and 19 consultancy services to entrepreneurs, have been conducted through the food processing business incubation centre. 1139 participants benefitted out of these programmes.

· 29 skill development training programs were conducted in different technologies to research scholars, students and interested entrepreneurs. Totally 842 participants benefitted out of these programmes.

· Capacity Building under PM-FME Scheme

· NIFTEM, Thanjavur is serving as the nodal national-level technical institutes for the centrally sponsored, Prime Minister Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PM FME) for capacity building and incubation and has organized 4 ODOP webinars on Pulse processing and Value Addition, Business Opportunities in Millet Processing, Mango processing and Value Addition and Citrus processing and Value Addition respectively.

· NIFTEM-T is approved CIC mentor for Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur, Kerala, IIM Nagpur, TNAU, KVK Madurai, Tamil Nadu, ICAR - NRCB, Trichy, Tamil Nadu, and SASTRA, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu.

· Various demonstration sessions have been conducted for the PMFME capacity building portal with Ministry NPMU, NIFTEM-K, Training partners, and state wise district officials and also developed web portal for updation of database for capacity building component of the scheme.

· Conducted trainings for 28 states for SRLM and SULM officials on MIS

· Self-learning modules have been developed for 5specificproducts.

· RESEARCH

Research Publications

· 17 Grant in Aid (GAP) Projects sponsored by Government agencies and 7 are Sponsored Research Projects (SRP) are in progress. 6 GAP and 3 SRP are sanctioned in the year 2022.

· Faculty members, scholars and students published 103 research articles in reputed international peer reviewed journals out of which 67 research articles are published in Scopus indexed impact factor journals with the highest impact factor of 11.2 and 54 international book chapters.

· Five workshops sponsored by SERB – Karyashala, TARE and Virithika schemes, were organized for the promotion of research skills among the PG students and scholars.