The establishment of more food processing units in the Northeast region is critical to flipping the underutilization of its chronic post-harvest losses into a transformative economic activity for farmers and entrepreneurs. It is a paradox that when the region witnesses huge post-harvest losses of food grains, persistent underutilization of funds, and the food provided by the central government continues to grip the food (MoFPI) processing sector in the region. Ironically, the food processing sector is the largest employer of the registered manufacturing sector in India, and lakhs of youth from the region seasonally migrate to other states in search of livelihoods and employment. The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) provides financial assistance for the creation of modern infrastructure with efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet to reduce wastage under various components of schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (PMKSY), Prime Minister Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME), and Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Food Processing Industries (PLISFPI). The central government says that apart from reducing post-harvest losses, the infrastructure created and assistance provided under the scheme component aim at providing better returns to farmers, creating processing-level employment opportunities, increasing the processing level, and enhancing the export of the processed foods. Yet, official data highlights that against the revised estimate of Rs. 183 crore for the region for the 2024-25 financial year, the actual utilization of funds under PMFME until February 11, 2025, was only 42%. It is baffling that even though these schemes are demand driven and the region continues to grapple with huge post-harvest losses after every harvesting season, low demand from the region dragged overall utilization of funds allocated to the MoFPI. The gloomy picture prevails despite preferential provisions and special concessions for the applicants from the region, which include reduced fee requirements, lower net worth and equity conditions, enhanced grant level to encourage wider participation. The MoFPI informed the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing that despite the incentives, the difficulty persists in securing sufficient eligible proposals from the region. The Ministry further informed the Committee that it regularly conducts virtual and physical meetings with promoters and investors, offers assistance in obtaining statutory approvals from state governments, and continues to monitor project implementation closely to address the challenges. Persistence of problems despite these efforts call for identification of the gaps by undertaking more comprehensive review and through stakeholder consultation. When the region has been witnessing spectacular development of road, rail, air and water connectivity, the producers, the hurdles of transporting farm produce to different markets within the region as well markets outside including global markets has significantly reduced. Some of the key bottlenecks identified by the Ministry about delay in overall project implementation timeframe in PMKSY include procedural delay in getting necessary approvals when some promoters or project implementing agency opt for change in term loan lending bank to avail better terms and conditions offered by other banks. Besides, sometimes, due to documentation delay, term loan disbursement by lending bank also takes time, impacting the overall schedule. Delay in receiving food safety license clearance of the Pollution Control Board, changes in capacity of the processing unit are also factors contributing overall delay in project implementation and timely fund utilization. These are structural and procedural gaps that can be addressed by administrative means. Another prominent reason cited by the Ministry is civil works progress being delayed by heavy rainfall and flooding during months of monsoon, leading to a cascading impact in the form of delay in procurement of machinery procurement and installation. Availability of reduced project implementation period due to annual rainfall and other disasters like floods, landslides is something that is not unexpected and is to be factored in at the time of project formulation and approvals. Referring to such known challenges among reasons cited for delay in project implementation in the region only reflects the persistence of gaps at the planning stage and lack of any serious efforts to address such challenges. The Parliamentary panel notes that the main issues faced by the applicants under PMFME scheme are non-sanctioning of loans by banks, collateral guarantee, CIBIL score, etc. The Ministry claims to have taken measures like sharing bank-wise data of applications sponsored to the banks and pending for sanction/disbursement with the Department of Financial Services, Government of India, on a fortnightly basis; periodically requesting the department to advise banks to increase sanction of applications; and review meetings are convened every quarter to discuss the issues related to generation of applications and timely sanction/disbursement, discussing the reasons for delay in sanction/disbursement and reasons of rejection for redressal. These efforts reflect redressal measures being focused on official paperwork and periodical discussion at various official fora. MoFPI putting in place concrete measures to resolve these issues, as recommended by the Committee, is essential to unlock the potential of the food processing sector in the Northeast.