India has currently 6 300 cold storage facilities, with an installed capacity of 30.11 million metric tons according to Corporate Catalyst India. What does the cold chain industry in India look like and where is it heading?
However, only 25% of the capacity is available for fruits, vegetables, processed foods and pharmaceuticals, whereas 75% of the capacity is dedicated to potatoes. Furthermore, over 50% of the cold storage capacity are currently concentrated in the states of Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
While India is one of the largest producers of agricultural products and one of the global leaders in the pharmaceutical sector, at the current capacity only less than 11% of what is produced can be stored. This results in supply chain losses of about 35-40% which have been stated to be as high as USD 8 to 15 billion per annum from the agriculture sector alone. To address this concern, the government had earlier constituted a National Task Force on Cold Chain in 2008 which resulted in initiatives such as the establishment of a National Centre for Cold Chain Development.
The market is gradually getting organised and focus towards multi-purpose cold storages is rising. The Indian cold chain industry is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 28% over the next four years and reach a market size of USD 13 billion in 2017.
