National
7th 'IndusFood' 2024
⇒ Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal inaugurated the ‘Indus Food 2024’, exhibition to showcase India’s vibrant and diverse food ecosystem.
IndusFood 2024:
The 7th edition of ‘IndusFood’ was held from 8-10 January 2024 at India Expo Centre, Greater Noida, India.
Organized by:
The 7th ‘IndusFood’ 2024 was organised by the Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI) and co-organised by the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Govt of India.
State Partner:
The Government of Jammu and Kashmir and the Government of Tamil Nadu were the state partners.
Key Points:
- IndusFood was a mega trade show inviting international exhibitors to showcase their products to a large and diverse audience of global F&B industry stakeholders, distributors, supermarket chains and HORECA companies.
- The event aimed to help global companies increase their network, and partnership opportunities by interacting directly with Indian food processors, buyers, exporters and manufacturers in exploring opportunities for potential investment, joint ventures, technology transfer and direct export not only within India but also in the South-Asia region.
» Indus food is the most comprehensive F&B marketplace in the South Asia region, showcasing F&B products, F&B processing, and packaging technology.
India’s First Inland Waterways Development Council commits Rs 45,000 crore for development of River Cruise Tourism
⇒ The maiden edition of Inland Waterways Development Council (IWDC) in Kolkata culminated with many firsts in an effort to ramp up capacity and augment viability of inland waterways of the country.
Chaired by:
The meet, chaired by the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal was attended by key stakeholders including ministerial representations from states as well as prominent stakeholders including policy makers and the industry leaders.
- Shri Sonowal also launched ‘Harit Nauka’ guidelines and ‘River Cruise Tourism Roadmap, 2047’ at the inaugural session of IWDC in Kollkata on 08 January 2024.
Organised by:
The IWDC was organised by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), the nodal agency for inland waterways in India, under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Government of India. The one-day meet was held on board vessel MV Ganges Queen at the Kolkata Dock Complex.
Highlights:
- The meet, with an objective to enable inland waterways as conduits of economic growth and commerce in the country, committed an investment ₹45,000 crore for development of river cruise tourism in the country.
- Of this ambitious sum, an estimated ₹35,000 crore has been earmarked for cruise vessels and another ₹10,000 crore for development of cruise terminal infrastructure at the end of Amrit Kaal, i.e. by 2047.
- To amp up inland waterways for cargo trade, an investment of ₹15,200 crore has been arrived at the Global Maritime India Summit (GMIS) held in Mumbai in October, 2023. This is likely to register a growth rate of more than 400%, increasing the volume upto 500 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA) by 2047.
- At the IWDC, a roadmap was chalked to enable capacity in an additional 26 waterways, fit for River Cruise tourism from operational strength of 8 waterways.
- The number of cruise circuits with night stays to be increased from 17 to 80 during the same time. In an effort to boost infrastructure in the inland waterways, the number of river cruise terminals to be increased up to 185, registering a growth of 1233% from the present strength of 15 terminals.
- Building on the capacity of enhanced circuits, the cruise tourism traffic with night stays to be move up from 5,000 to 1.20 lakh by 2047. Similarly, the local cruise tourism traffic on National Waterways without night stay to be increased from 2 lakh to 15 lakh by 2047.