India's food processing sector has expanded steadily across every structural indicator tracked here: registered units rose from 37,175 in FY 2012–13 to 42,801 in FY 2022–23, employment grew from 16.6 lakh to 22.96 lakh persons over roughly the same window, and GVA nearly doubled from ₹1.3 lakh crore to ₹2.24 lakh crore. Trade tells a more uneven story — food exports climbed from USD 36.2 billion (FY 2014–15) to a peak of USD 51.1 billion (FY 2022–23) before easing to USD 49.4 billion in FY 2024–25, while imports grew faster in relative terms, nearly doubling from USD 19.7 billion to USD 36.6 billion, narrowing the trade surplus considerably. FDI inflows have been volatile rather than trending, swinging between roughly USD 390 million and USD 905 million a year with no clear direction. On the production side, milk output has grown almost every year on record (121.8 to 239.3 million tonnes since FY 2010–11), while foodgrain and meat production show steady but more moderate gains, consistent with a sector where processing capacity and downstream investment are scaling faster than raw output.