By Purushothaman Ravichandran
President, Danfoss India and Chairman, CII National Task Force on Post Harvest and Logistics

Cold chain sector plays a major role in reduction of losses and efficient supply chain management of perishable products. Availability of cold chain at various stages of the supply chain also enables the availability of produce in lean season, increasing affordability and accessibility by streamlining the supply chains, improving the quality of the produce and employment generation.

In order to recognize individuals and organizations for pre-eminence and outstanding contributions in the field of cold chain management and to raise awareness with regard to sustainable success and competitiveness through best practices, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) with the support of National Centre for Cold-Chain Development (NCCD) organized the 4th edition of CII Cold Chain Awards and felicitated the winners on November 20 at Taj Palace, New Delhi.

Inaugurating the awards ceremony, Rameswar Teli, the minister of state in the Ministry of Food Processing Industry, urged the cold chain stakeholders to participate in the holistic development of the sector across the country. Reiterating the Ministry’s commitment for the development of the food processing and cold chain sectors, he stated that India will be the biggest market in the world for food processing in the coming years and cold chain will play a key role. The awards ceremony was a significant forum to recognize the outstanding performers in various categories of Cold Chain – multi commodity and single commodity storage, reefer transport, IQF processing unit, integrated supply chain, packhouse and innovations.

The Jury for the awards was chaired by Dr. Ashok Dalwai, Chief Executive Officer, National Rainfed Area Authority, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare, and co-chaired by Pawanexh Kohli, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Advisor, National Centre for Cold-Chain Development.

The awards and recognition have enabled innovation, integration and investments in the supply chain and thus there is a substantial interest towards these awards, which is growing year on year.
The winners of this year’s Cold Chain Awards are:
Outstanding Performance
• Cold Storage – Multicommodity (Medium Segment) – Indapur

Dairy and Milk Products Ltd.
• Cold Storage – Multicommodity (Small Segment) – RGA Fresh Fruits Ltd
• Reefer Transport - Ravi Integrated Logistics Pvt. Ltd.
• Integrated Supply Chain Solution (Large Segment) – Suri Agro Fresh.
• Integrated Supply Chain Solution (Medium Segment) – Air India SATS Airport Service Pvt. Ltd.
• Integrated Supply Chain Solution (Small Segment) – TCI Cold Chain Solutions Ltd.
• IQF Processing Unit – Nekkanti Sea Foods Ltd.
• IQF Processing Unit – Devi Aquatech Pvt. Ltd.
• Packhouse – Desai Fruits & Vegetable Pvt. Ltd.
• Innovation – Rinac India Ltd.

Significant Achievement
• Cold Storage – Multicommodity – W.B. Livestock Development Corporation Ltd.
• Cold Storage – Single Commodity – Raghunandan Cold Chamber LLP.
• Integrated Supply Chain Solution – FIL Industries Ltd.