India’s food sector registered an average growth of 27% during pandemic: Chairman TPCI
Press Release:
India’s food sector registered an average growth of 27% during pandemic: Chairman TPCI
Canada participates in first BSM, organized by TPCI with Indian food exporters and Canadian buyers
– India- Canada trade grew 24% during the pandemic time
– India ethnic and organic food has an immense possibility in the Canadian market: High Commissioner of India to Canada
18th June 2020, New Delhi: Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI), in association with the High Commission of India in Ottawa organized a virtual Buyer-Seller Meet on Food & Beverages products on Wednesday, 15th July. The Buyers Seller Meet was held between prominent Indian exporters and Canadian buyers for real-time business discussions. Ajay Bisaria, High Commissioner of India to Canada along with Chairman TPCI, Mohit Singla address the BSM.
Indian exporters included Amrita Trading Company, Nature Knows Inc, Sawhney Foods, Natu’oil Services India Pvt Ltd, Global Choice Foods Ltd., Hekcin Inc., Gelda Foods, Shopkart.ca, Oh! Naturals, Herbal Potluck Limited, Indus Links Inc., Singal’s Indian Grocery, Spice Divine, etc. The Canadian buyers’ side was represented by, Cosmic Nutracos, Param Dairy, Gopala Fresh, Soch Foods LLP, Morriko Pure Foods, Wingreens Farms, Bombaywalla Puranpoli Pvt Ltd, Jubilant Consumer, Capital Ventures Pvt Ltd, S S Food Industries, Jagdish Food Zone, etc.
Chairman TPCI, Mohit Singla, in his opening remark said, “As we all know that Businesses never stop and the business community always find ways to move forward, no how difficult is the situation. I am very happy to inform that this BSM marks the 40th virtual meeting that TPCI has organized during the COVID19 pandemic. TPCI has successfully organized virtual bilateral and multilateral business meetings with various countries/regions.”
Further, Singla stated that “We feel that Canada can be a very important market for Indian F&B industry as Canada has a large population, approx. 2.4 million, of the Indian diaspora. Outreach to the mainstream market is the biggest challenge for the Indian F&B industry. I am sure with the support of fellow buyers, who have been strongly supporting TPCI and Indian F&B products, and with the support of the High Commission we will be able to perform better in the coming days.”
I am very happy to inform that export in the month of June 2020 vis-à-vis to June 2019 has declined only 4%. We exported almost one lakh sixty-six thousand crore worth of merchandise. It shows that the Indian market has bounced back very well and the international market is responding well to Indian exports. It is also pertinent to mention that the food sector has shown phenomenal growth to the tune of 27% and the major markets that have responded well are the US and Canada. We have to work with more responsibly, Chairman TPCI observed.
The High Commissioner, Ajay Bisaria, said, “The Mission was part of a number of business conferences but this is the first virtual buyer-seller meet during the lockdown period. It is a very positive sign that we are looking beyond the Pandemic to go into a recovery phase for the business.” Indian ethnic and organic food has huge demand in Canada and witnessing good growth. Food sector will be more than positive overall, he added.
Further High Commissioner observed, “It is very heartening to hear the June export data of India, Chairman TPCI has just informed, which shows the recovery of Indian export is quite visible. But the overall picture is that Canada is projecting the worst economic contraction since the great depression of about 6.8% in 2020 instead of 8% or so projected by IMF for Canada.” We hoped that all economies including India and Canada would have a ‘V’ shape recovery rather than ‘W’ or ‘U’ shape recovery, he added.
Ajay Bisaria stated that “The strategic India-Canada economic partnership is moving to the next level in business and political terms and often the business side lead the political side. The merchandise trade has gone up to 24% during the pandemic time. The investment from Canada to India has grown from US$5 billion to US $60 billion in the last 5-6 years.”
High Commissioner highlighted that, “Integration of Canada due to its partnership (North American Free Trade Agreement and United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement) may be seen as part of the North – America market and space.”
We are also working on trade agreements and having a conversation on an investment protection agreement. There is a strong inflow of immigrants and students from India to Canada. So we have a picture that India investing in human capital in Canada and Canada is exporting financial capital to India, he added.
Trade statistics:
| Figures in US$ Billion | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | Growth Rate | |
| India’s exports to Canada | 2.08 | 1.97 | 2.32 | 2.80 | 2.90 | 0.106829604992151 | 10.68 |
| India’s imports from Canada | 3.85 | 3.65 | 4.84 | 3.48 | 3.90 | -0.001935181527883 | -0.19 |
| Bilateral Trade | 5.93 | 5.62 | 7.16 | 6.28 | 6.80 | 0.039363335396251 | 3.94 |
| Balance of trade (EX-IM) | -1.76 | -1.68 | -2.53 | -0.68 | -1.00 | #NUM! | #NUM! |
| India’s Top Export to Canada | India’s top imports from Canada |
| Pharma | Coal |
| Automobiles | Petroleum and crude oil |
| Frozen Shrimps | Potassium Chloride as fertilizer |
| Gems & Jwellery | unworked diamond |
| Iron and Steel pipeline for gas | Dried and shelled lentils |
| Plastics | paper roll for newsprint |
For any further information, contact:
Sameer Pushp
DIRECTOR- MEDIA & CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS
9, 2nd Floor, Scindia House, Connaught Circus,
New Delhi- 110001, India
T: (91) 11 40727281
M: (91) 9811229110
W: www.tpci.in
