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Divya Trivedi

Mumbai, Nov. 9 Engineering solutions provider Voltas Ltd of the Tata Group is betting on the growth of the food-processing industry to drive its cold chain systems business.

“Currently, our cold chain business is very small as it falls in the unorganised sector. Going forward, it will to be the greatest growth driver for us,” Mr M. Gopi Krishna, Senior Vice President (Operation), told Business Line.

As the cold chain business is directly linked with the food-processing sector, packaged food becoming popular with the masses will give the required fillip to the cold chain industry. This will enable companies like Voltas to expand on cold storages, said Mr Krishna.

According to a FICCI-KPMG paper released earlier this year, the food processing industry is estimated to grow at 9-12 per cent in the near future. The sector has the potential of attracting Rs 15,660 crore (€2.7 billion) investments by 2015, reported the paper.

Export-oriented fruits such as apples, grapes, pomegranates and citrus fruits will be front runners for the growth in cold chain, as these are of processed variety, Mr Krishna said.

In a bid to expand its cold chain, Voltas ventured into terminal markets project under the Centrally sponsored ‘National Horticulture Mission’ scheme last year. However, the project could not take off due to certain unforeseen problems, real estate being one of them.

“Real estate developers have entered into the terminal market project to create facilities around, increasing the land rates, making it unfeasible for players like Voltas,” he said. However, the company continues to be open to the initiative.

An average investment of Rs 80 crore is required to build a single terminal house, according to Mr Krishna. The cost of storing the goods for a farmer would be as low as 10 paise per kg for 24 hours, he said.

The Voltas stock closed at the BSE on Friday at Rs 198.85 against the previous close of Rs 198.65.

More Stories on : Outlook | Storage | Foods & Food Processing | Air-conditioners & Refrigerators

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