Cold chain infrastructure in India is lagging the country's demand for high quality fresh food products. With over 40 per cent of the fruit and vegetable produce getting wasted while moving from farmer to consumer, some companies are trying to stem the loss and contain the inadequacies that exist in the supply chain.

“The cold chain sector is driven by the increasing demand for perishable products, as well as the overall need to reduce wastage of fruits and vegetables,” said Tarun Arora, Director at fresh fruit importer IG International, a ₹450 crore company.

Arora said an investment in IG Supply Chain Pvt Ltd, its wholly owned subsidiary, and among the top five players in temperature controlled warehousing, would help the firm with the storage and transportation of not just food products, but also pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and chemical needs.

“For the last three years we have been investing in cold chain facilities, and are investing ₹100 crore in upgrading our cold storage units across our facilities. Investments would be done in one facility in Delhi, two in Himachal Pradesh, one in Jaipur, one in Mumbai, one in Chennai and one in Bangalore,” said Arora.

An Assocham report says the Indian cold chain industry is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 25.8 per cent till 2017 to Rs ₹64,000 crore in value by 2017.

High potential

At present, India’s cold chain capacity is miniscule compared to the potential demand. Less than four per cent of the country’s fresh produce is transported by cold chain, compared to over 90 per cent in the UK.

However, a report by UK's University of Birmingham has noted that Indian companies are set to invest heavily in the sector in the next five years, and that the Indian refrigerated vehicle fleet may need to grow almost 100 fold by 2025 to cater to the huge demand.

“Our investment is not just for captive growth. It would also be for third party lease to cater to other industries,” said Arora

IG International is also looking to cater to the tobacco industry.

He added that like other crops, tobacco too was dependent upon an effective cold chain system if it was to become economically viable and sustainable.

With a current capacity of 70 refrigerated trucks, IG International is eager to build capacity in its palette cold storage facility, which has different temperature controlled segments, enabling the selection of the right temperature for specific product requirements.

“There are 20 palettes in one container. Each palette is 1 tonne, depending on the commodity,” explained Arora, adding that cold chain major Snowman Logistics has around 54,000 palettes. IG currently has 25,000 palettes.

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