Lok Sabha Question No. 460 (STARRED), answered on 2026-03-24
Subject: Empowerment of  APEDA
Ministry: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Asked by: Shri Darshan Singh Choudhary

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION No. 460

ANSWERED ON 24/03/2026

## EMPOWERMENT OF APEDA

*460. SHRI DARSHAN SINGH CHOUDHARY:

Will the Minister of COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY ( वाणिज्य एवं उद्योग मं त्री ) be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  empowered  the  Agricultural  and  Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) with adequate budget and  resources  to  provide  financial  assistance,  training  and  international market access to the farmers and exporters;
- (b) if  so,  the  number  of  farmers,  Farmer  Producer  Organisations  (FPOs)  and exporters  who  received  financial  assistance,  training  or  marketing  support through APEDA during the last five years;
- (c) whether the Government proposes to formulate any scheme or introduce any reforms to make the process of providing technical and financial assistance more simple, expeditious and transparent, if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) whether  any  time-bound  roadmap  has  been  prepared  to  provide  further assistance  to  the  exporters  and  the  farmers  through  APEDA  for  enhancing competitiveness in global markets, adherence to quality standards and brand promotion in the future, if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

वाणिज्य एवं उद्योग मंत्रालय में मंत्री ( श्री पीयूष गोयल ) THE MINISTER IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

- (a) to (d) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY OF PART (a) TO (d) OF LOK SABHA STARRED  QUESTION  NO. 460 FOR ANSWER  ON  24 th MARCH, 2026 REGARDING 'EMPOWERMENT OF APEDA'

(a)  to  (d)  The  Agricultural  and  Processed  Food  Products  Export  Development Authority (APEDA) is a statutory body established under APEDA Act, 1985, which has been assigned the mandate to promote the exports of its Scheduled products, as  specified  under  Section  10(2)  of  the  APEDA  Act,  1985.  The  functions  include development  of  Industries  by  way  of  providing  financial  assistance,  conducting studies and feasibility  studies, exploring markets  for potential products for exports, inspection  of  meat  and  meat  products  for  ensuring  quality  exports,  improving packaging,  marketing  of  the  scheduled  products  outside  India,  promoting  export oriented production and development of exports, training in various aspects of the industries and concerned stakeholders to promote exports.

At  present,  Financial  assistance  is  provided  to  APEDA's  stakeholders  under  the "Agriculture and Processed Foods Export Promotion Scheme of APEDA" for the 15 th Finance Commission Cycle (2021-22 to 2025-26) in three components: (i) Development of Export Infrastructure, (ii) Quality Development, (iii) Market Development. Scheme guidelines are available at https://apeda.gov.in/FinancialAssistanceSchemes.

During  15 th   Finance  Commission  period,  APEDA  has  been  sanctioned  a  budget outlay of Rs. 405.02 crores for the implementation of the Scheme. The following are the details regarding the component wise assistance to Stakeholders, as on date:

| Component                            |   Number of Beneficiaries | Amount of Assistance   |
|--------------------------------------|---------------------------|------------------------|
| Development of Export Infrastructure |                       137 | Rs.122.02 Crores       |
| Quality Development                  |                       130 | Rs.41.00 Crores        |
| Market Development                   |                      1815 | Rs.242.00 crores       |
| Total                                |                      2082 | Rs.405.02 Crores       |

To  strengthen  the  capabilities  of  stakeholders  across  the  agri-export  value  chain, including  of  farmers,  FPOs,  exporters,  APEDA  has  scaled  up  its  training  and capacity building initiative. Focused training and capacity building sessions are being undertaken in physical and hybrid mode, in coordination with the State Government agencies,  Krishi  Vikas  Kendras,  Indian  Council  of  Agricultural  Research  (ICAR) research institutions, agricultural universities, and institutions like National Institute of Food  Technology  Entrepreneurship  and  Management  (NIFTEM),  Central  Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), etc to sensitize stakeholders on international standards, importing country requirements, Good Agricultural practices, quality control, improved  packaging,  marketing  strategies etc. The  details of

APEDA's training  and  Capacity  Building  programmes,  for  three  financial  years,  as per available data, is as under:

|                                                     | 2023-24   | 2024-25   | 2025-26 (As on 01.03.26)   |
|-----------------------------------------------------|-----------|-----------|----------------------------|
| Number of Training & Capacity Building sessions     | 255       | 934       | 1582                       |
| Number of Participants (including farmers and FPOs) | 30,384    | 88,026    | 1,65,226                   |

For  the  upcoming  16 th   Finance  Commission  Cycle  (2026-27  to  2030-31),  APEDA has formulated a revised financial assistance scheme, wherein revisions have been proposed  to  make  the  scheme  simpler,  expeditious  and  transparent  based  on feedback taken by APEDA  from  its stakeholders and  on the basis of the recommendations  of the third-party evaluation of the scheme  conducted  as prescribed by the NITI Aayog.

APEDA's support to its stakeholders including exporters and farmers for enhancing competitiveness  in  global  markets,  adherence  to  quality  standards  and  brand promotion is an ongoing process. With respect to training and capacity building of stakeholders,  there  will  be  an  effort  to  maximize  district  coverage  across  all States/UT's in India, in physical/virtual mode.

Further, financial assistance is provided on receipt of applications from stakeholders. Selection of an applicant stakeholder is subject to meeting the eligibility requirements,  compliance  with  the  scheme guidelines and  available  resources.  To enhance coverage, APEDA is working on augmenting its resources through internal mobilization, convergence with schemes of related line Ministries and Departments of the Government of India and seeking enhanced funds from the Government under the upcoming 16 th  Finance Commission Cycle (2026-31), which is under submission with the Ministry of Finance for consideration.

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