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Food parks can make India a key exporter: Nath

          New Delhi: The Central Government will set up food parks, according to Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath. "India must become an important agricultural exporter. Agriculture is the key focus area of the Government as 650 million people are dependent on the agricultural sector," Nath told participants at a national conference on foreign trade policy and procedures here today. Commenting on the transformation of agriculture from an activity of subsistence to one of commerce, Nath said: " The Government is promoting food parks, but won't get directly involved in running them and would do only the initial handholding." On India 's share of merchandise exports in GDP (Gross Domestic Product), he said it is higher than that of the US and Japan . Highlighting India 's macro economic fundamentals, Nath said the country's total exports of goods and services for the last year was 196.23 billion dollars and the trade deficit (for both goods and services) was 16.14 billion dollars. On Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows, Nath highlighted that India has jumped almost three times in the last two years. In 2005 FDI was 5.5 billion dollars and in 2006 it rose to 16 billion dollars. For the year 2007-08, the Centre is targeting 25 billion dollars in FDI, he added. Speaking about outsourcing, Nath said: "India needs to keep pace with technology and the fact that US jobs have shifted to India is not because of low-wages, but due to technology." "Technology and demography are the driving change in the global economy today. India should be prepared for more competition in global markets and should focus more on EPOs (Engineering Process Outsourcing) and KPOs (Knowledge Process Outsourcing)," he added.
- April 20, 2007