The Andhra Pradesh Government is developing a scheme to attract private sector investment in to the Cold Chain and Warehousing sector in the State. This was stated by Sabysachi Ghosh, Secretary (Food Processing), while addressing a cold chain summit organized by ASSOCHAM at Hyderabad.
Ghosh further said that scheme would also encourage small investors and emerging entrepreneurs. He further mentioned that cold chain infrastructure was not just important for the better preservation of commodities but it was also a pre-requisite for the development of food processing industry and making India the major exporter of food across the globe.
Ghosh said that the cold chain sector of India has witnessed the major changes in the past few years. The increased eagerness of private players to enter in the cold chain market has been acting as the ray of hope for the modernization of cold chain logistics in India. The recent trends has shown the inclination towards the multi-purpose storage, utilization of eco-friendly material and techniques, etc. which are expected to benefit the cold chain sector of India in a long run. The Private-Public Partnership (PPP) would play the instrumental role in uplifting the cold chain industry of India.
The Indian government has taken measures to support PPP such as allowing viability gap funding up to 40 per cent, giving other monetary benefits to cold chain players, etc. The Indian Government should increase the coordination among its various arms such as National Horticultural Board, Ministry of Food Processing, National Centre for Cold Chain Development, etc.
On the occasion Ravindra Senna Reddy Chairman Southern Regional Council of ASSOCHAM said that India especially Andhra Pradesh was much below the bench mark for cold storage presence and there is vast scope for investment given right environment for the industry to flourish.
Senna Reddy submitted that the government should also take initiatives towards strengthening the cold chain infrastructure in railways, airports and major ports. This would help in better movement of temperature sensitive material across India and overseas. Private players should focus on increasing the capacity utilization. This will help both the parties; cold stores and refrigerated fleet owners. The private players should also focus towards providing the integrated solution which includes both the transportation and storage.
The pressure on private players for the utilization of scientific techniques has increased significantly since past few years as the large number of companies are now demanding for storage and transportation of temperature/heat sensitive products in a suitable condition. Therefore, the cold chain industry’s stakeholders should focus on implementing the scientific techniques while establishing their network, Senna Reddy said. (INN)