India's Minister for Food Processing Subodh Sahai met British companies on Tuesday as the one of the world's fastest growing economies seeks to rapidly expand the sector.
"The UK, the US they are processing 80 percent, 70 percent, 75 percent (of food), whereas India is processing just 7 percent so the sky is the limit for this," Sahai told Reuters at the Royal Agricultural Show. "After IT (information technology) and BT (biotechnology), the age of FT (food technology) has come," he said.
"I'm not only interested in the business but also in the technological exchange," he said, adding that India was currently working on quality standards.
India is the world's largest producer of milk and tea and a leading producer of crops including fruit, vegetables, wheat, rice, cotton and spices. Sahai said his talks would include British food retailers.
"I'm meeting with the various retail chains, Tesco and others, how much they are interested in India," he said, adding that supermarket chain Waitrose, which is part of the John Lewis Partnership, was among the other companies with which he was holding discussions.
India's food retailing sector is currently very fragmented, with many small family-owned outlets, although shifting lifestyles were expected to bring a change towards more supermarkets and hypermarkets.
An easing of current restrictions on foreign investment in food retailing in India might open up opportunities for international supermarket chains. Sahai said he could not discuss the prospects for this happening. Sahai said India was an ideal hub between the key Middle East and Far East markets.
India also provided opportunities for the organic sector, he noted. "By default we are an organic country...We are getting a lot of enquiry about organic foods," he said. India had only just begun to certify its organic production as the sector moved to a more commercial footing.
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