ShareCold chain industry in India.
Currently, India has 6,300 cold storage facilities unevenly spread across the country, with an installed capacity of 30.11 million metric tons.
India’s cold chain sector is a combination of surface storage and refrigerated transport. The industry has been growing at a CAGR of 20% for the last three years. The cold chain market in India is anticipated to reach Rs 624 billion (USD 13 billion) by 2017, according to 2014 estimates. Cold stores are the major revenue contributors of the Indian cold chain industry.
Currently, India has 6,300 cold storage facilities unevenly spread across the country, with an installed capacity of 30.11 million metric tons. These are mostly used for storing potatoes. However, the market is gradually getting organised and focus towards multi-purpose cold storages is rising. More than 50% of the cold storage facilities in India are currently concentrated in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, while other states still face a challenge with investments from the government and private operators.
Facts :
• Organised players contribute only about 8%–10% of the cold chain industry market
• 36% of these cold storages in India have capacity below 1,000 million of ton
• 65% of India’s cold chain storage capacity is contributed by the states of Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal
• At the current capacity only less than 11% of what is produced can be stored
India is one of the largest producers of agricultural products and one of the global leaders in the pharmaceutical sector. It is known to have a fledgling cold chain, which results in supply chain losses of food and other resources. These losses 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.
Initiatives to boost the cold chain infrastructure:
• 100% FDI through government route
• Since 2011-12 cold chain has been given infrastructure status
• Viability gap funding up to 40% of the cost
• 5% concession on import duty, service tax exemption, excise duty exemption on several items. Subsidy of over 25% to 33.3% on the cold storage project cost
• Establishment of National Centre for Cold Chain Development
• Proposed financial outplay for cold chain infrastructure & food parks of USD 335 million and USD 650 million respectively. Over 50%-70% capital grant on projects.
Key challenges :
• Lack of quality cold warehousing infrastructure: There is a severe shortage of cold chain warehousing capacity as only 25% of the capacity is available for fruits, vegetables, processed foods and pharmaceuticals, whereas 75% of the capacity is dedicated to potatoes.
• Lack of standards and protocols in construction and operation of facilities: Technical standards followed in India are mostly unsuitable for Indian conditions, which results in lower performance of standard refrigerated systems.
• Low awareness of labour in handling temperature-sensitive products: in India, the supply chain of most products is long and fragmented. A product changes many hands from source to delivery point. Most workers involved in this are not properly trained in handling temperature-sensitive products resulting in deterioration of product quality before reaching the consumer.
• High fuel cost and power cuts: Fuel costs in India constitute around 30% of operating expenses of cold storage in India as compared to 10% in the West. Further, cold storages are dependent on steady supply of power. Most Indian regions face power cuts. Hence, these companies have to invest in power back-ups, which push up the capital investment requirement.
With 35-40% of agricultural produce in India being wasted due to lack of proper cold storage facilities, it is immensely important that a focused effort is required on part of the government to encourage the use of cold chain among market participants.
Source: fnbnews.com, March 10, 2016
Currently, India has 6,300 cold storage facilities unevenly spread across the country, with an installed capacity of 30.11 million metric tons. These are mostly used for storing potatoes. However, the market is gradually getting organised and focus towards multi-purpose cold storages is rising. More than 50% of the cold storage facilities in India are currently concentrated in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, while other states still face a challenge with investments from the government and private operators.
Facts :
• Organised players contribute only about 8%–10% of the cold chain industry market
• 36% of these cold storages in India have capacity below 1,000 million of ton
• 65% of India’s cold chain storage capacity is contributed by the states of Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal
• At the current capacity only less than 11% of what is produced can be stored
India is one of the largest producers of agricultural products and one of the global leaders in the pharmaceutical sector. It is known to have a fledgling cold chain, which results in supply chain losses of food and other resources. These losses 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.
Initiatives to boost the cold chain infrastructure:
• 100% FDI through government route
• Since 2011-12 cold chain has been given infrastructure status
• Viability gap funding up to 40% of the cost
• 5% concession on import duty, service tax exemption, excise duty exemption on several items. Subsidy of over 25% to 33.3% on the cold storage project cost
• Establishment of National Centre for Cold Chain Development
• Proposed financial outplay for cold chain infrastructure & food parks of USD 335 million and USD 650 million respectively. Over 50%-70% capital grant on projects.
Key challenges :
• Lack of quality cold warehousing infrastructure: There is a severe shortage of cold chain warehousing capacity as only 25% of the capacity is available for fruits, vegetables, processed foods and pharmaceuticals, whereas 75% of the capacity is dedicated to potatoes.
• Lack of standards and protocols in construction and operation of facilities: Technical standards followed in India are mostly unsuitable for Indian conditions, which results in lower performance of standard refrigerated systems.
• Low awareness of labour in handling temperature-sensitive products: in India, the supply chain of most products is long and fragmented. A product changes many hands from source to delivery point. Most workers involved in this are not properly trained in handling temperature-sensitive products resulting in deterioration of product quality before reaching the consumer.
• High fuel cost and power cuts: Fuel costs in India constitute around 30% of operating expenses of cold storage in India as compared to 10% in the West. Further, cold storages are dependent on steady supply of power. Most Indian regions face power cuts. Hence, these companies have to invest in power back-ups, which push up the capital investment requirement.
With 35-40% of agricultural produce in India being wasted due to lack of proper cold storage facilities, it is immensely important that a focused effort is required on part of the government to encourage the use of cold chain among market participants.
Source: fnbnews.com, March 10, 2016