The current production of food grains in the country is estimated to be about 225 million tonnes per annum. It includes rice, jowar (great millet), bajra (pearl millet), maize, ragi (finger millet), wheat, barely, gram and pulses. Food processing industries have a crucial role to play in reduction of post harvest losses. The most important point in the food industry is that a substantial portion being rural based it has a very high employment potential with significantly lower investment. From the energy conservation aspect also, promotion of food processing industry could be rewarding as it can reduce the wastage of energy, which occurs in home cooking.

Presently, total milling capacity of 186.00 million tonnes (in terms of paddy) is already available in the country of which 85 million tonnes is with traditional mills and 101 million is with modern mills. In order to realize its full potential the government is actively involved in forging partnerships between industry and farmers with vital inputs for core sectors like seed storage, transportation, quality control and grading.