For instance even though the country is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables, hardly two per cent of the production is processed. This underlines the enormous scope for investing in the processed food sector in the areas of infrastructure, packaging and machinery. India, in fact, needs $28 billion of investment to raise its food processing levels by 8-10 per cent.
The potential for investment in this sector is further accentuated by the following factors:
**A huge and exponentially growing demand represented by a market of one billion people spending on an average about 50 per cent of household expenditures on food coupled by a scenario of rapid urbanization and changing lifestyles.
**A 30 million upper and middle class segment of the total population consume processed and packaged food with another 200 million people projected to shift to this group by 2010 thanks largely to rapid urbanization and changing lifestyles.
**Well-developed infrastructure and distribution network.
**Increase in per capita income and purchasing power.
**Large pool of scientific, technical and skilled manpower.
**Introduction of series of investment friendly initiatives by the Government including strengthening and augmenting of road and rail network, modernization of ports, prioritization of infrastructure for post harvest management, logistics (including cold chain),
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