Lucknow, Sept. 19 -- The double engine government is determined to make Uttar Pradesh the leading hub of food processing, deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said on Friday as he inaugurated the 11th edition of the India Food Expo (IFX)-2026 in Lucknow. The government is giving a new momentum to the food processing sector by promoting investment, innovation and technological development, Maurya said. He said continuous efforts were being made to increase farmers' income through the value addition of agricultural produce to strengthen the rural economy. Maurya also interacted with women entrepreneurs. "There is immense potential for the investment and expansion of industries, employment generation and providing a wide market to local products in the food processing sector in the state. With better coordination agriculture-industry coordination, the state is being made a major centre of food processing," he said. Under the state's new food processing industry policy, investors are being given capital grant, interest subsidy and special exemption in stamp duty, he said. Mega food parks, cold-chain network and agro-processing clusters are being rapidly expanded, strengthening the supply chain from farm to the market, he added. He said the PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) scheme has been linked with the State Rural Livelihood Mission for social and economic uplift of women. Through this, women self-help groups (SHGs) are being given up to 35% grant and financial assistance for processing and branding of pickle, packed food, and millet (Shree Anna) based products, helping rural women emerge as 'Lakhpati Didis', he added. After the inauguration, the first session was on 'Role of Industry and Trade in Viksit Bharat 2047'. Indian Industries Association national president Dinesh Goyal and All India Industry Trade Board national president Sandeep Bansal laid stress on the role of food processing and MSME in making India developed nation by 2047. The second session was on the role of financial institutions in promoting food processing industries. SIDBI GM Jai Kumar Gupta, SBI DGM-SME Sandeep Prakash, Capital Crafter's Sandeep Tiwari, Arjun Agrawal and Vita Day representatives spoke about financial assistance and easy implementation of govt schemes. Principal secretary (labour) MK Shanmuga Sundaram, special secretary (food processing) Rajkamal Yadav, chief general manager, SBI, Dipesh Raj, IIA senior vice-president Alok Agrawal, IFX chairman Vikas Khanna, co-chairmen Vaibhav Agrawal, Vidhu Gupta, members associated with IIA and food processing units, traders and departmental officers were present on the occasion....