The CII Task Force on Cold Chain Development was an outcome of Cold Chain Summit 2007, organized in New Delhi by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) jointly with the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Government of India for preparing a road map for cold chain development in the country. In the last few years, there is increasing awareness of the importance of an efficient cold chain as a supply chain system in India by both the industry and the policy makers. Given the Government’s policy of doubling farmers’ incomes, it is clear that India needs to move from a supply led revolution to a concerted effort for creating capacities and efficiencies in its networks from the farm to the market. The cold chain primarily functions as an environment-controlled chain of activities to prepare and facilitate market reach of perishable produce with minimal damage. Cold storages form one part in this chain in conjunction with modern pack houses and refrigerated vehicles.

National Cold Chain Summit
Considering the importance of the sector and also to develop a roadmap towards the creation of a robust food value chain, CII in association with the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), MoA and the National Centre for Cold-chain Development (NCCD) organized the 7th National Cold Chain Summit on September 25 in New Delhi. The theme of the summit was Cold Chain: An enabler for doubling farmer’s income. It was an attempt to analyze the status of the cold chain in India and to understand the impact of cold chain systems in doubling farmers’ incomes. The deliberations at the summit brought forth several key issues that are critical to a sustainable and viable environment for the cold chain sector to grow. It highlighted the enormous opportunities that the sector offers for doubling farmers’ incomes by creating an end-to-end link in the supply chain. It served as a platform for all the stakeholders and witnessed over 200 delegates from Government organizations, representatives from the governments of Tamil Nadu and Haryana, academicians from renowned universities, private players from top food processing companies, cold chain equipment manufacturers, logistics players and international delegates from countries like the Netherlands, Belgium, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom and Spain.

CII Cold Chain Awards
The CII Cold Chain Awards Program, supported by NCCD, was launched with the intent of promoting standards for excellence across business operators in India through a threepronged approach of Capacity Building, Self-Assessment and Motivation through External Recognition. Cold chain awards recognize organizations for outstanding contributions in the field of cold chain management including warehouse, logistics and policy systems and raise awareness of sustainable success and competitiveness through best practices. The winners of the second CII Cold Chain Awards were felicitated by Dr. Ashok Dalwai, Chief Executive Officer, National Rainfed Area Authority, MoA and Parag Gupta, Joint Secretary, MoFPI. The award winners in various categories were:
Best Practices in Cold Warehousing
Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt Ltd, Mangolpuri Unit (Large Segment)
Keventer Agro Limited (Medium Segment)
Refrigeration Transport
Gati Kausar India Limited (Medium Segment)
Best Practices in Pack Houses
Sahyadri Farmers Producer Co. Ltd (Large Segment)
Savla Foods & Cold Storage Pvt Ltd (Small Segment)
Backward Integration
FIL Industries Limited
Innovation
Ecofrost Technologies Pvt Ltd
Significant Achievement
B.Y. Agro & Infra Limited (Cold Chain Warehousing)
Promethean Spenta Technologies Pvt Ltd (Innovators Category)

Cold Chain Knowledge Hub
In order to overcome the challenges faced by the cold chain industry and to strengthen the agriculture and food supply chain, CII-FACE announced the launch of the Cold Chain Knowledge Hub (Cool Idea) during the 7th National Cold Chain Summit. It will focus on branding and marketing of crops in both domestic and international markets. The proposed activities under this initiative are:
• Capacity building in cold chain
• Research and studies
• Standardizing operations and policy advocacy
• Handholding for start-up technology

MoU with Covestro
A memorandum of Understanding was signed with Covestro India Ltd. during the 7th National Cold Chain Summit for the first project under Knowledge Hub – an integrated cold chain pilot project at Pune. The project will be conducted in 2 phases:
Phase I
I. Cold store infrastructure creation.
II. An awareness program for prospective entrepreneurs showcasing the pilot model.
Phase II
I. Impact analysis on the value created for farmers and consumers by utilizing the cold chain pilot.
II. Two awareness programs for prospective entrepreneurs showcasing the pilot model.

Ease of Doing Business
With an aim to identify the types of operational hindrances faced by investors in setting up a cold chain and clubbing the obstacles so as to suggest a way forward for single window clearance, an ease of doing business study is being conducted in 8 states in all the four regions of the country.
• North: Himachal Pradesh, Punjab/Haryana
• South: Telangana, Andhra Pradesh
• East: Odisha, West Bengal
• West: Gujarat, Maharashtra

The study commenced in September 2017. The objectives of the study are:
• Assess the current procedure of setting up the cold chain infrastructure in the country including pack houses, cold storage warehouses, reefer vehicles and ripening chambers.
• Draw up a detailed map of licenses, permits and clearances needed to set up cold chain infrastructure across the 8 states.
• Provide recommendations on the framework for a fast-track procedure or single window clearance to ease the setting up of cold chain infrastructure.