India has substantial cold-storage capacity, but with annual post-harvest losses of nearly $18.5 billion and only 4 per cent of perishables moving through organised cold chains, the next phase must shift from simply adding capacity to improving capability, integration, utilisation and end-to-end connectivity, according to a cold chain and warehousing summit themed “Building Ecosystem for Viksit Bharat”.
“A fruit harvested today has a biological clock. Milk collected from a farmer has a quality clock. Fish landed at the harbour has an even faster clock. If we manage time and temperature well, we preserve value. If we fail, we lose food, income and resources. That is why I believe cold chain is not about keeping products cold. It is about keeping value alive,” said Sukanta Kumar Panigrahi, Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing, Government of India, speaking as event organised by ASSOCHAM.
Saandip Wadhwa, Chairman, National Council on Logistics and Warehousing, ASSOCHAM, and Group Director, JM Baxi Group, in his welcome address said, “India has made significant progress in expanding its physical infrastructure. However, the next phase of growth must focus not merely on creating more capacity, but on creating connectivity.
The projected growth in capacity to 43.7 million tonnes by 2031, at only 2.2 per cent CAGR, further reinforces the need to focus on the quality and effectiveness of the existing ecosystem rather than capacity creation alone.
SBI’s perspective
Mata Prasad, DGM – ABU and GSS, State Bank of India, during his industry address, said, “From SBI’s perspective, cold chain infrastructure represents an important opportunity to connect agriculture infrastructure, food processing and logistics exports. Our approach is to look at the complete agri value chain and provide the right financial solution depending upon the nature of the activity, the borrowers and the cash flow profile. In cold chain, we can finance construction of cold storage, plant and machinery, working capital and other needs.”
Devendra Kumar Dhodawat, Former Additional Chief Secretary to the Governor of Kerala and Member, Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA), said, “India today is among the leading agriculture producers. In 2024-25, the country recorded food grain production of about 358 million tonnes, while horticulture has also emerged as a major driver of agriculture growth, with production reaching about 371 million tonnes.”
Sanjay Bajpai, Industry Veteran and Advisor, National Council on Logistics and Warehousing, ASSOCHAM, and Former Executive Director, CONCOR, observed, “Supply chains, as they extend further out of the country, are also becoming increasingly trust chains. These chains of trust depend on standardisation, on preservation of quality, and on resilience to connect with the market. This is where one sees the future of warehousing and cold chain getting increasingly and intimately integrated with the supply chain.”
Take advantage of developments
Amrit Lal Meena, Former Chief Secretary, Government of Bihar, and Former Special Secretary (Logistics), DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce, Government of India, said, “It is time that industry associations and state governments plan their industrial townships, warehousing and multimodal logistics parks, including smaller logistics parks, at the junctions of trunk infrastructure, railway lines and highways.”
“Industry should take advantage of these developments, and through conferences such as this one, meaningful recommendations should emerge, recommendations that reach the appropriate forums for implementation,” he added.
Saurabh Sanyal, Secretary General, ASSOCHAM, highlighted the importance of cold chain, warehousing and multimodal logistics in making Indian supply chains more competitive, resilient and globally integrated, and urged participants to put forward practical, actionable recommendations.