As the two countries work on a wider food security partnership, eight food processing units in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh are being considered with UAE support.
This will also include food supply chain management. For example, DP World is looking into "synergies" in order to provide integrated supply chain solutions, and DMCC's (Dubai Multi Commodities Centre) has an agriculture trading platform called "Agriota" that connects farmers in India with food companies in the UAE in order to increase food imports from India.
At the India-UAE Food Summit in Dubai, Juma Al Kait, Assistant Undersecretary - Foreign Trade Affairs at the UAE Ministry of Economy, confirmed this.
The UAE-India food corridor project, which aims to secure the Gulf country's food security needs, announced last year that UAE entities will invest up to $7 billion (Dh25 billion) in India's food sector over three years. Through the establishment of logistics infrastructure and agricultural projects, the corridor is expected to support 2 million Indian farmers and generate an additional 200,000 jobs.
"Given our strategic relationship, I believe now is an excellent time for the UAE and India to step up their food security cooperation," Said UAE Ambassador to India Ahmed Al Banna.
"I congratulate the Indian government on the recently implemented production-linked incentives system, as well as the ten main sectors that the Indian Union Cabinet has approved."
The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme in India will provide companies with incentives based on incremental revenue from goods produced in the country's manufacturing and processing facilities.
Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, a Punjab government minister, invited UAE investors to invest in food processing in the province, which is one of the country's largest crop producers.
According to Sharafuddin Sharaf, Vice-Chairman of Sharaf Group, India's new farming laws would benefit the country's farmers by eliminating middlemen from the equation.
“The Indian government is taking significant initiatives to improve India's food trade, including new laws that empower farmers in India by providing them with direct market access and self-sufficient packages,” Sharaf said. “Given the new government's dedication to accountability and prompt responses, the gestation period for initiatives would almost certainly shorten further.
"As investors, we've already started putting our business plan in place,” Sharaf said. “We're not just providing logistics services; we're also allowing our investments in India to develop multimodal logistics facilities, including rail depots."