Imagine a situation where the country’s agricultural produce, fruits such as bananas, pomegranates and mangoes for instance, are branded and marketed in India and abroad. Each of these fruits have the potential to churn out a couple of billion dollars in income.

It is conservatively estimated that bananas alone could fetch about $3-4 billion through value addition. Given that India is the world’s largest producer of bananas, produces 35 per cent of the world’s mangoes and 23 per cent of grapes, by branding them, India could well be scripting a different story.

Ravichandran Purushothaman, President, Danfoss Industries, and Chairman of CII Task Force for Cold Chains, in an exclusive interaction with BusinessLine , sought to highlight how the CII is working with various Central Government Ministries and State Governments to develop horticultural crops in clusters, aimed at unlocking their potential through value addition. Edited excerpts:

So what progress has the CII task Force made so far?

We have been constantly engaged with various Central Government Ministries and State Governments to emphasise the importance of pre-harvest and post-harvest infrastructure and the need to brand fruits to add value. As a part of this initiative, we have succeeded in the process with the Central Government setting up a separate Ministry and the Union Budget announcing a series of initiatives to support setting up of cold chains.

What about the initiatives with the State Governments?

We have been working with various State Governments and advocating cluster-based development of horticulture crops as this will enable us to work on supply chains and cold storage chains.

As a part of this, we have presented reports on banana, pomegranates, and are in the process of presenting a report on mangoes.

India is estimated to produce about 200-210 million tonnes of horticultural produce and barely has 30 million tonnes of cold storage capacity. The storage capacity of 85 per cent is mainly for potato and onions. Therefore, CII is advocating development of these crops in a cluster-based approach which will then help in value addition by setting up cold chains through private sector participation. Accordingly, we are working with the Governments of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, among others, on various horticulture produce.

How do you see branding of fruits helping in value addition?

Branding, food processing and investments in supply chain will ensure that the farm produce gets the right value. The CII Task Force has therefore worked on apples in Himachal Pradesh, grapes in Maharashtra, bananas in Tamil Nadu, pomegrantes in Karnataka and mangoes in Andhra Pradesh, among other clusters. A report on mangoes will be presented by December.

Case studies of Theni in Tamil Nadu and apples in Himachal show things are changing or the better. By branding, we would be able to ensure that the producers get higher returns.

Already, several large corporations have entered the fray and many more are likely to follow suit. But the real turning point would be when small and medium enterprises get into the business.

This could then turn out to be a sector like IT, offering immense scope for jobs in rural areas.

Not just horticulture, similar potential is seen in developing milk, meat and poultry cold chains.

How much has Danfoss expanded in India so far and when will you commission the new plant?

Part of the European global company, Danfoss in India has been pioneering climate, energy and power solutions. The company currently employs about 500 people, with 50 per cent in R&D.

We plan to grow to 1,200 people within two to three years, with 50 per cent in R&D. We are looking at expanding our India presence by offering locally relevant solutions. Our new manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu will be commissioned on November 5.

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