July 29, 2009
India to extend tax holiday for meat processing
India will extend tax holiday to promote meat and poultry processing, which is expected to boost value addition.
The Rs20,000 crore poultry industry had always complained about high transportation costs and poor cold storage conditions being a hindrance to the growth of processing in the sector.
More than 90 percent of the broilers sold are in the wet market and only 10 percent are sold as processed chicken, said Ricky Thaper, treasurer of the Poultry Federation of India.
The announcement is also likely to boost the milk processing sector, which has failed to benefit from its large milk production due to rising domestic demand and inadequate infrastructure.
Agricultural and Processed Food products Exports Development Authority chairman Asit Tripathy said they need to take up processing of animals products for boosting exports and value addition.
According to APEDA, India's exports of dairy products doubled to 69,415 tonnes with a value of Rs866 crore during 2007-08 against Rs434 crore in 2006-07.
