Industry body Ficci has called for duty exemptions and a 10-year tax holiday for cold chain infrastructure as the lack of fiscal relief and incentives for the highly capital-intensive and energy-intensive food processing industry was holding up its growth.

The manufacturing sector is fighting shy of investing in the much-needed cold chain infrastructure in the absence of fiscal relief and incentives. The reticence to diversify is holding up the growth of the food processing industry, leading to unabated losses on account of wastage of agricultural produce, a Ficci statement said.

In a note to the finance ministry, the chamber has called for providing direct and indirect tax incentives for the development, processing, transportation, storage and handling facilities as the current incentives were not sufficient to enthuse investors.

Food processing machinery and refrigerated trucks used by processed food industry should be exempt from excise duty besides customs duty and countervailing duty should be exempt for import of food processing machinery by a mega food processing plant, the statement said.