Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI)

Start by working out which scheme fits

MoFPI is not one programme with one form. Match your business to the right scheme first:

• An existing, unincorporated micro food-processing unit: PMFME support for an existing unit, through your district.
• A self-help-group member already processing food: PMFME seed capital through your SHG federation, or support as a single unit.
• A farmer producer organisation, producer cooperative or SHG federation: PMFME group support for capacity or common infrastructure, or marketing and branding support.
• A larger business planning a substantial new or expanded plant: the PM Kisan SAMPADA unit scheme, when a call is open.
• A manufacturer already selling at scale: the production-linked incentives, though their application rounds have closed.

None of these is designed for a founder who has not yet started operating. If you are at idea stage, look at incubators and early-stage grants instead.

Check that the scheme is open before you spend time on it

• PMFME's own guidelines run to 2024-25, and press reports in 2026 described a temporary extension to 30 September 2026. Ask your State Nodal Agency or the PMFME portal whether applications are being taken today.
• PM Kisan SAMPADA unit-scheme calls come in rounds. The latest we found closed in 2025.
• The production-linked incentive schemes are not taking new applicants.

How applications work

• PMFME individual units: applications are invited at district level on an ongoing basis. You go through your district and State Nodal Agency, and the bank sanctions the loan against a project report.
• PMFME groups and common infrastructure: you prepare a detailed project report in the prescribed format and send it to your State Nodal Agency. After state-level approval it is recommended to the ministry. The grant is paid to your organisation's bank account once the bank sanctions the loan.
• PMFME branding and marketing: the State Nodal Agency prepares the proposal for the group, so speak to them first.
• PM Kisan SAMPADA unit scheme: online only, on the scheme portal, when an Expression of Interest is open. Physical applications are not accepted. Only one application is accepted per entity for each call.

What reviewers look for

• An operating unit. PMFME individual support is for units that already exist; new units are supported only for the product chosen for the district.
• The right legal form. PMFME individual support is for unincorporated proprietorships and partnerships with fewer than ten workers, and only one person from a family can receive it.
• Experience in the product. For group and SHG support, the guidelines ask for at least three years' experience with the district product.
• Registrations. SME applicants to the production-linked incentive for innovative or organic products needed Udyog Aadhar or Udyami registration, and APEDA registration for organic products. Millet applicants who apply as an MSME need Udyam registration.
• A project that is big enough. The PM Kisan SAMPADA unit scheme sets a minimum eligible project size and a net-worth condition.

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) is a Government of India ministry based at Panchasheel Bhavan, August Kranti Marg, New Delhi. It runs and funds schemes for the food-processing sector: subsidies and grants for micro units and producer groups, a financial-assistance scheme for larger processing units, and incentives linked to sales for approved manufacturers. It is not an incubator or accelerator, and it has no single application desk. Each scheme has its own eligibility, its own route in and its own status.

How MoFPI's schemes work

Most of the support here is tied to a real, operating food business. The schemes help a unit upgrade, expand or build capacity, and most pair the government's share with a bank loan or with the applicant's own money. There is no scheme in the pages we read that is built for a founder who has not yet started operating or selling. Founders at that stage will usually find a better fit with an incubator or an early-stage grant programme.

How you apply depends on the scheme. The micro-enterprise scheme runs through district and state offices. The scheme for larger units takes applications online in rounds, when the ministry publishes an Expression of Interest. The production-linked incentive schemes ran through an online portal and have closed their application rounds.

PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME)

PMFME is a centrally sponsored scheme aimed at micro food-processing enterprises, and at groups and cooperatives that support them, to help them upgrade and formalise. It has several parts. An existing micro unit can get a capital subsidy linked to a bank loan. Self-help-group members can get seed capital for working capital and small tools, and an individual SHG member can be supported as a single unit with a credit-linked grant. Farmer producer organisations, producer cooperatives and SHG federations can get a credit-linked grant for processing capacity or shared infrastructure such as sorting, grading, storage, common processing, packaging and testing laboratories, with help towards the cost of the project report. Groups can also get marketing and branding support for a product, with the proposal prepared by the State Nodal Agency.

A recurring idea in PMFME is One District One Product: new units are supported only for the product chosen for their district. Units that receive capital support are also eligible for training.

PMFME is for enterprises, not for farmers' income support. The individual-unit support is for unincorporated units, which means proprietorships and partnership firms with fewer than ten workers. A company does not fit that part of the scheme.

The scheme's own guidelines cover 2020-21 to 2024-25. Press reports in 2026 said it had been extended temporarily to 30 September 2026, with a longer continuation proposed but not yet confirmed. We could not find a ministry page that confirms whether PMFME is open today.

PM Kisan SAMPADA Yojana

The unit scheme under PM Kisan SAMPADA Yojana, for creating or expanding food-processing and preservation capacity, takes applications online only, through a dedicated portal, when an Expression of Interest is open. Physical applications are not accepted. The most recent call we found closed in 2025 after one extension, and the ministry's scheme page gives its allocation only up to 31 March 2026.

Eligible applicants include individuals, public sector undertakings, joint ventures and NGOs, among others. There is a net-worth condition, a minimum eligible project size well above micro scale, and only one application is accepted from an entity for each call.

The ministry's scheme page also says that several other components of the umbrella scheme have been discontinued in the 15th Finance Commission cycle, with only existing commitments continuing. These are the Mega Food Park, Creation of Backward and Forward Linkages, Human Resource and Institution Promotional Activities, Skill Development and HACCP, and one component of Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure.

Production-linked incentive schemes

MoFPI runs two production-linked incentive schemes. The Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Food Processing Industry (PLISFPI) is a Cabinet-approved central sector scheme implemented through a project management agency. It has a category for SMEs making innovative or organic products, which requires Udyog Aadhar or Udyami registration and, for organic products, registration with APEDA. SME applicants also had to show a minimum level of sales for each product in 2019-20, so a business that began trading after that cannot qualify under it. A second scheme covers millet-based products.

Both schemes ran their application rounds years ago: the PLISFPI call closed in June 2021, with a second round for organic products approved in 2022, and the millet call opened in 2022. The scheme portal now shows claim windows for the 2025-26 financial year, but these are for entities that were already selected. We found no open application window for new applicants.

Who can apply

Eligibility differs by scheme, and no single set of conditions covers MoFPI as a whole. An existing unincorporated micro unit looks to PMFME. A producer group, cooperative or SHG federation looks to the PMFME group support. A larger business planning a substantial new or expanded plant looks to the PM Kisan SAMPADA unit scheme when a call opens. A registered SME or large manufacturer was the audience for the production-linked incentives.

Where to find it

MoFPI's office is at Panchasheel Bhavan, August Kranti Marg, New Delhi, 110049. We found no ministry-wide enquiry inbox. The division handling the production-linked incentives and the division handling the PM Kisan SAMPADA unit scheme each publish their own inbox, listed under the relevant programme. PMFME is handled locally, through your State Nodal Agency.