Figures: the cold chain in India

The Indian government is planning to provide financial assistance of up to 75% of the total investment for companies setting up cold chain facilities and is re-examining providing of infrastructure status to cold chain facilities, by making them eligible for tax breaks and cheaper credit facilities. India currently has 5000 cold storage facilities with an overall capacity of 19.54 million tonnes. Approximately 80% of this capacity is privately owned. A very large proportion is dedicated to potatoes (82%) and while there is a cold chain for meat, dairy products and frozen foods, it is almost non-existent for other fruit and vegetables (0.2%). According to recent government estimates, total committed government investment for the cold chain sector is USD 1.2 billion.