India has 297 million hectares of land, of which over 54% is arable. India is the third largest producer of agri-products and processed food, just behind the US and China.

The Indian processed food industry is estimated to be Rs. 6 trillion and is growing at a rate of 10%. Export of processed food has been around Rs.370 billion and is growing at 8%. The Indian food processing industry is becoming an attractive FDI destination; it attracted an FDI around Rs. 45.19 billion during the period 1991-2005.

Higher disposable incomes have led to an increase in consumption of processed foods across all categories. For example, the consumption of products like nuts, frozen foods, and pasta have witnessed an average annual growth of over 10% during the last 5 years. The ready-to-eat segment is experiencing an explosive growth of above 50%, with this trend expected to continue in the future.

Though, as of 2007, the industry is dominated by unorganized small players who constitute 75% of the industry, several companies, both domestic and foreign, are expected to enter in the near future. However, the rate and degree of corporatization varies across the segments. For example, while the beverages and confectionery segments are dominated by the organized sector, segments like fruits & vegetable processing, dairy, and poultry are largely served by small, unorganized processors.

India's share of processed food in the global market is very low at about 2%. While India continues to surge ahead with a GDP rate of 9.2% during 2006-07 the only sector that has not kept pace is agriculture, which grew at 2.7%. Since, in India, more than half of the population is dependent on agriculture, the government has taken some policy initiatives to encourage agri-businesses and the food processing sector.

The policy initiatives as well as strong demand side factors such as increasing urbanization, rising incomes, increasing number of double-income-nuclear families, increasing health awareness among consumers, increasing demand for healthy and nutritious foods, etc. have attracted several companies such as ITC, Dabur, and HLL to the industry. Undoubtedly, the industry is getting more organized.

Managers in this sector would have to have a keen knowledge of the customer and provide solutions that meet their tastes and requirements. They would also have to be skilled at planning product launches, pricing, branding, promotion, etc.

A Master's in Agri-Business Management would give students an exposure to this dynamic and growing sector and introduce them to the opportunities and challenges contained in it.