ITC to invest Rs 700 cr in food park in Madhya Pradesh

Consumer goods major ITC chairman Sanjiv Puri on Friday said the company is planning to set up a food processing facility in Madhya Pradesh at an investment of Rs 700 crore. The company also said the land for the proposed food processing unit is already with the company and it will soon commence operations.

"We are now intending to make a large investment in a modern food processing facility in MP at an investment of Rs 700 crore," Puri told the Magnificent Madhya Pradesh at the maiden investor summit being organized by the Kamal Nath-led state government here. He said some pre-designed work for the facility has already been started and very soon it will commence operations and the unit will have a large facility for dehydrating vegetables.

"We will soon start working with the farmers in developing high yielding beans and carrots which we are going to dehydrate and market across the country," Puri said, adding food processing has enormous economic multipliers and improves farm efficiencies.

"This is sector in which we already have large presence in the state and we are going to enhance in future," he said, adding the tobaccos-to-hospitality major also wants to develop horticulture in the state.

"We had piloted certain species, demonstrated to the farmers and in this season we are expecting some 100 acres to be grown. Over time, we are going to multiply this into 10,000 acres," he said, adding the company is willing to buy produce from the farmers.