In order to promote and facilitate investments in the Indian Dairy sector, the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD) of Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying on July 19, 2021 has setup Dairy Investment Accelerator under its Investment Facilitation Cell.
- The Investment Accelerator is a cross functional team to act as intermediary with investors.
Features of Dairy Investment Accelerator:
i.Providing specific inputs for evaluation of investment opportunities
ii.Addressing queries about application to govt. schemes
iii.Connecting with strategic partners
iv.Providing on-ground assistance with state departments & relevant authorities
Key Points:
i.DAHD will encourage all the interested private companies, individual entrepreneurs, and start-ups to invest in the dairy sector through Dairy Investment Accelerator.
ii.Accelerator will work with DAHD to organize events with international & local industry participants to facilitate direct interactions with government officials and other players in the industry.
iii.An awareness about Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development fund (AHIDF) will also be raised among investors.
What is AHIDF?
It is a Rs. 15,000 crore scheme by DAHD for offering financial support to entrepreneurs, private companies, MSME (Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises), Farmers Producers Organizations (FPOs), and Section 8 companies for setting up new units or expansion of existing units in areas of dairy processing & related value addition infrastructure, meat processing & related value addition infrastructure and Animal Feed Plant.
The benefits available are:
- 3% interest subvention on loans
- 2-year moratorium with 6-year repayment period
- Rs 750 crore credit guarantee
Points to be noted:
i.India is the largest milk producer contributing 23% of global milk production.
ii.India’s annual milk production increased by 6.4% (CAGR- Compound annual growth rate (CAGR)) in the past 5 years.
iii.Dairy is the single largest agricultural commodity contributing 5% of the national economy and employing over 80 million farmers directly.
iv.There are large amounts of foreign direct investments (FDI) in the dairy sector constituting about 40% of FDIs Indian food sector.
Recent Related News:
On 7th April 2021, the National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) of the Ministry of AYUSH signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying for formulating new drugs using medicinal herbs for the use of veterinary science.
About Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying:
Union Minister– Parshottam Khodabhai Rupala (Constituency- Gujarat)
Ministers of State (MoS)– Sanjeev Kumar Balyan (Constituency- Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh), Dr. Loganathan Murugan (Constituency- Tamil Nadu)
