Union Food Processing Minister Chirag Paswan addressed the India Healthy Snacking Summit (IHSS) 2026 as chief guest at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, on 3 July 2026, sharing his vision for India to become the world's leading healthy food supplier and for at least one Indian food product to reach every dining table globally.

Context

Posting on X after the event, Chirag Paswan wrote: 'हमारा संकल्प है कि भारत केवल दुनिया का Food Basket ही नहीं, बल्कि Global Healthy Food Basket बने' ('Our resolve is that India should not merely be the world's Food Basket, but its Global Healthy Food Basket'). He added that at least one Indian food product should reach every dining table in the world in the years ahead. The minister congratulated Farmley, the summit's organising company, along with participating startups and industry representatives.

Bharat Mandapam, the flagship convention centre in New Delhi, has emerged as a preferred venue for high-profile trade and industry conclaves since its inauguration. Its use for IHSS 2026 underscores the government's intent to give the healthy-snacking sector a prominent platform.

Policy Backdrop

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries has driven two landmark schemes to shift India from raw agricultural exports toward value-added products. The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana, launched in 2017, aimed at building modern food processing infrastructure and boosting exports. The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Food Processing Industries, announced in 2021, was designed to attract fresh investment and enhance value addition across the supply chain.

Paswan's articulation of a 'Global Healthy Food Basket' vision aligns with this policy lineage, extending it explicitly into the health and wellness segment — a category seeing rapid domestic and international demand growth for functional and nutritious snack products.

Stakeholders and Impact

The summit brought together food processing startups, healthy snack manufacturers, and agri-exporters — the three constituencies the ministry is trying to integrate into a coherent export-oriented value chain. Ministerial participation at such industry gatherings signals continued public-private coordination and can influence investment decisions, sourcing partnerships, and branding strategies for emerging food brands.

Farmley, which organised the summit, operates in the healthy-snacking space and its role as convener reflects the growing institutional weight of direct-to-consumer food brands in shaping sector policy conversations. Startups present at the event gain direct access to ministerial priorities, which can inform product development and export roadmaps.

What's Next

The ministry's next steps to watch include fresh scheme guidelines or budget allocations under the Ministry of Food Processing Industries and India's positioning at upcoming global food trade events. Paswan's stated ambition — at least one Indian food product on every global dining table — sets a clear rhetorical benchmark against which future policy announcements and export data will be measured.

As domestic consumption of healthy snacks rises alongside growing international appetite for clean-label and functional foods, the government's ability to translate summit-level intent into exportable, branded Indian products will define whether this vision moves from aspiration to measurable trade outcome.