South Asian Journal of Social Studies and Economics

The study emphasizes on understanding the role of food processing industries in generating employment and in exports. The focus is to underscore its contribution in the manufacturing industry as a whole as well as to study the trend in exports from this industry in last 15 years (2008-09 to 2022-23). The study utilizes time-series data utilizing official reports of ASI, NSSO and APEDA. The number of units in the food processing industry was found to decline from 18.6 per cent to 16.76 per cent in the manufacturing sector of India. In Haryana, the number of establishments in the food processing industry decreased from 12.99 per cent to 9.36 per cent. The number of persons engaged in the FPI declined as share of manufacturing sector (from 20.34% to 12.01%). While in Haryana, the number of persons engaged in the FPI declined as share of manufacturing sector from 15.59 per cent to 7.99 per cent. The share of FPI in total exports from India found to increase from 4.51 per cent to 7.87 per cent. A comprehensive effort is needed in the area of physical and market infrastructure with rebate in tax to strengthen the processing activities.