India is the world's second largest producer of food next to China, and has the potential of being the biggest with the food and agricultural sector. The total food production in India is likely to double in the next ten years. Fruits & Vegetables, Fisheries, Milk & Milk Products, Meat & Poultry, Packaged/Convenience Foods, Alcoholic Beverages & Soft Drinks and Grains are important sub-sectors of the food processing industry. Health food and health food supplements are another rapidly rising segment of this industry which is gaining vast popularity amongst the health conscious India is one of the world's major food producers but accounts for less than 1.5 per cent of international food trade. This indicates vast scope for both investors and exporters. Food exports in 1998 stood at US $5.8 billion whereas the world total was US $438 billion. The Indian food industries sales turnover is Rs 140,000 crore annually as at the start of year 2000. The industry has the highest number of plants approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) outside the USA. It is estimated that there are an estimated 40,000 units in the food-processing sector in India. India's food processing sector covers fruit and vegetables; meat and poultry; milk and milk products, alcoholic beverages, fisheries, plantation, grain processing and other consumer product groups like confectionery, chocolates and cocoa products, Soya-based products, mineral water, high protein foods etc. It covers an exhaustive database of an array of suppliers, manufacturers, exporters and importers widely dealing in sectors like the -Food Industry, Dairy processing, Indian beverage industry etc. We also cover sectors like dairy plants, canning, bottling plants, packaging industries, process machinery etc. ;contributes nearly half of India's marine fish landing of 2,50,000 tons sardines, shrimps, lobster, cuttlefish, squid, tuna and so on, which have very high demand in the overseas markets are available in abundance. Ongoing technology upgradation in the export-oriented marine product sector points to greater growth in the immediate future. Kerala is a land of spices considering the large variety of spices grown in the state. Today there are as many as 26 Indian spices that are greatly in demand in different countries. Apart from flavoring food and beverages, they are increasingly used in the manufacture of spice mixtures, oils, oleoresins, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and aromatics. The most popular among the spices are pepper, cardamom, turmeric, chillies and ginger. Pepper, known as the 'King of Spices' is perhaps the world's oldest known spice and is cultivated in over 158,000 hectares in Kerala, which accounts for 96 % of the total production in the country. has a vibrant Agro-based food industry because of the ideal climatic conditions for the growth of fruits and vegetables. The Madurai-Dingidul belt in Tamil Nadu is endowed with favourable climatic conditions ideal for the cultivation of a variety of fruits and vegetables. SIPCOT has promoted an Agro park at Nilakottai, Dindugul. The floriculture industry is also poised for a quantum leap in the next few years with the area around Coimbatore, Dharmapuri, and the Nilgiris being earmarked as places ideally suited for the cultivation of flowers like Rose and Chrysanthemum - of these Coimbatore has been identified as an intensive floriculture zone. Realising the tremendous potential in the state, a number of joint ventures involving Dutch companies are, being set up in the area - some involving major corporates. Govt. of Tamil Nadu has introduced innovative policies like Contract farming policy and Bio-technology policy. TIDCO is developing a floriculture park: TANFLORA at Hosur and 6 BIO-valleys including a Genomics centre and a Bio-incubator park in collaboration with Cornell University,USA.