Kolkata, (IANS) The government Wednesday said it will provide food processing training to 500,000 women in collaboration with industrial training institutes (ITI) as part of its efforts to create 10 million jobs by 2015.

“The training given to the women will strengthen the food processing sector, which has emerged relatively unaffected from the economic slowdown,” Minister for Food Processing Industries Subodh Kant Sahai said here.

The government is also facilitating setting up of 350 food processing units, Sahai said at an interactive session with members of the Merchants Chamber of Commerce.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to inaugurate a state food processing ministers’ conference Oct 6 in New Delhi to chalk out strategies for further development of the sector in the country.

A vision document for 2015 aims to increase the size of the industry to around $210 billion, besides raising the level of perishable processing from the present 6 percent to 35 percent.

“We are also aiming to double India’s share in global trade from the present 1.5 percent to 3 percent,” the minister said.

With a large and diversified production base coupled with low manpower cost and modern technology, the Indian food processing sector is poised for growth, if the advantages are leveraged optimally, Sahai said.

“Even during the recession period, the industry managed to exhibit 14.6 percent growth.”

Food retail, dominated by around five million retail outlets in India, is also likely to grow from $75 billion in 2007-08 to $150 billion by 2025, Sahai said.

-- IANS