Event report

IFCCI Food & Agri Club Brainstorming Meeting

18 May 2023

IFCCI organised 1st Meeting of its Food & Agri Club on 18th May 2023 to explore the synergies for IFCCI’s member companies in Food & Agri sector.

Indo-French Chamber of Commerce & Industry (IFCCI) organised the first Meeting of its Food & Agri Club on Thursday, 18th May 2023 to initiate the discussion and explore the synergies for IFCCI’s member companies in the Food & Agribusiness space.

Ms. Rishika Roy, Head – Committees & Partnerships, welcomed members to the meeting and introduced IFCCI Committees and the Agri Club, mentioning the Club’s intended initiative to foster synergies between French and Indian member companies in the agribusiness space in India.

Vignesh Janakiraman, Director, Timac Agro briefed members about the agenda of the Agri Club and shared his thoughts on the broad focus areas for this year:

To discuss and share common issues being faced by the Agribusiness industry in India and to put them across to the relevant Government authorities in India
To identify the relevant topics of interest to this Industry and organise a knowledge sharing Seminar

This was followed by a brief introduction by member participants. Members shared their views on the issues faced by the industry alongwith some suggestions for the way forward.

Some of the important discussion points that were brought up during the Meeting were as follows:

Issues faced – tariff and non-tariff barriers for raw materials, intermediaries and finished goods, supply chain issues, EU (European Union) regulation for GMO and non-GMO standards and lack of harmonization between India and EU standards, FSSAI regulations and additional compliances and testing requirements
Topics identified – Sustainability, Food inflation, EU-India Trade dialogue, Supply Security of raw materials for domestic industry
Tentative time for a focused Seminar – Second half of July in Mumbai (hybrid)
Relevant Government departments identified for Advocacy Meetings – Department of Commerce and Industry and FSSAI

Advocacy Representation - a whitepaper / Recommendation document to the Government authority before the Meeting
The Club will have the support from the Embassy of France and will work closely with their Agriculture department for this initiative
The French Minister of Agriculture & Food Sovereignty is likely to visit India in June 2023
Bring more companies on board for the Agri Club representing food, beverage and agri-business sectors
Previously, IFCCI has organised meetings with CEO of FSSAI in 2019 and 2022 for French companies in India and would like to organise another one by the end of this year