Venkat Raman, Auckland, January 26, 2019
A ten-member delegation led by India New Zealand Business Council (INZBC) Chairman Sameer Handa has just returned from New Delhi after attending ‘Indus Food 2019’ held on January 14 and 15, 2019 in Noida, an industrial township, known as the ‘Satellite City’ of Delhi.
Stated to the biggest Food & Beverage Exhibition held in India, the two-day event reportedly transacted US$1 billion with about 700 traders engaged in business-to-business meetings organised by the Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI).
TPCI facilitated the visit of delegations from around the world under the ‘Reverse Buyers-Sellers Meet Programme under the Market Access Initiative (MAI) Scheme of Department of Commerce.
Schemes to raise productivity
Inaugurating the Expo on January 14, 2019, Union Minister of Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal said that India is the largest producer in many areas.
“But unfortunately, we are just processing only 10% of it, because of which much of the produce is waste. The more India produces, the less will be wasted. A lot of work is being done in this field in the past few years,” she told a Media Conference after the inauguration.
“We have done a lot for the farmers, with many benefiting schemes. World Food India
(a global event held from November 3 to November 5, 2017 in Delhi, to facilitate partnerships between India and international businesses and investors) did a great job in this regard. More than US$ 14 billion has been invested so far and we are working on 40 mega Food Parks, a great place for foreign investors,” she added.
Watch her speech here:
https://www.facebook.com/Harsimratkaurbadal/videos/718796781825108/
New Zealand concerns
Mr Handa said that the New Zealand delegation was happy with the outcome of the meetings held at the Expo and that its members were a part of a Seminar on the Oceania Region comprising New Zealand, Australia and Pacific Islands.
“We raised several issues of importance and interest to New Zealand. These included supply chain integrity, quality, contentious issues raised by the parallel import industry as well as marketing and promotion,” he said.
Mr Handa said that he was expecting a feedback from the members of his delegation of their impression of Indus Food 2019, following which he will prepare a Report for INZBC and other appropriate organisations.
The Delegation
Among the members of the delegation were Alkesh Sharma (Visma Foods Consultant Limited), Ashok and Anu Bhatia (AB International), Dev Nadkarni (Food Secure), Jagdish Punja (J Punja NZ Limited), Neha Arora (Harman Impex NZ Limited) Prasad Salaskar (Salient Foods), Sandeep Agarwal and Stan Balar (Service Foods Limited).
During his visit, Mr Handa met the High Commissioners of New Zealand and Fiji to India, respectively Joanna Kempkers and Yogesh Punja and discussed with them the objectives of his delegation and the role that INZBC plays in fostering business relations with India.
He said that the delegation met India’s High Commissioner to New Zealand Sanjiv Kohli prior to the visit.
Late last year, INZBC elected Sameer Handa (Managing Director of Glowbal New Zealand Limited) and Bhav Dhillon (Hon Consul of India based in Auckland and Publisher and Managing Director of Indian Weekender) to the posts of Chairman and
Treasurer. It also appointed Dev Nadkarni to the post of Editor of its newly established Quarterly Newsletter ‘Kia Ora.’
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India’s Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal inaugurating Indus Food 2019 in Noida on January 14, 2019 (Picture from Indus Food 2019 Website)
Sameer Handa with Fiji’s High Commissioner to India Yogesh Punja in Delhi
Sameer Handa presents a copy of ‘Kia Ora’ to New Zealand’s High Commissioner to India Joanna Kempkers in Delhi
Sameer Handa with Sagar Bansal, Deputy Director, Trade Promotion Council of India and Alkesh Sharma, Director, Visma Foods Consultant Limited
(Pictures Supplied)
