Question : Cold Storage

(a) the existing and required capacity of cold storage/cold chain units in the country along with the budgetary provision made and disbursed to increase the capacity of cold chain units and to save fruits and vegetables from wastage during the last three years and the current year and the benefits accrued therefrom, State/ UT-wise;

(b) whether cold storage facilities is enough to manage the demand in the country and if so, the details there of along with the new food parks and cold storages units that have been announced by the Government, region-wise;

(c) whether the Government has received several proposals to set up Integrated Cold Storage Units in various States including Uttar Pradesh during the last three years and the current year and if so, the details thereof and the action taken by the Government in this regard;

(d) whether only a few cold chain projects out of sanctioned projects have been started due to shortage of funds and if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government to mobilise the funds for the purpose;

(e) whether some foreign companies have shown interest to invest in the cold storage units in the country and if so, the details of inflow of foreign direct investment thereon during the said period; and

(f) the steps taken by the Government to maintain the data of functional Integrated Cold Storage Units in the country?

(a): A study was undertaken by National Centre for Cold Chain Development (NCCD), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in 2015 on All India Cold-Chain Infrastructure Capacity (Assessment of Status & Gap) to assess the requirement for cold chain infrastructure in the country. The study has made the following gap analysis of cold chain infrastructure:





Type of Infrastructure Infrastructure Requirement
(A) Infrastructure created (B) All India Gap
(A-B)
Pack-house 70,080 nos. 249 nos. 69,831 nos.
Cold Storage (Bulk) 34,164,411 MT 31,823,700 MT 32,76,962 MT
Cold Storage (Hub) 9,36,251 MT
Reefer Vehicles 61826 nos. 9000 nos. 52826 nos.
Ripening Chamber 9131 nos. 812 nos. 8319 nos.

The study was primarily based on requirement of fruits & vegetables and has excluded the requirement for milk, meat, marine and processed products.

The Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure being implemented by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries is a central sector scheme for providing financial assistance for setting up cold chain units/projects. The Scheme is demand driven and not region specific. Therefore, State wise funds are not allocated under the scheme. Details of year wise funds allocated and disbursed under the scheme during last three years and the current year are at Annexure-I.

Further, details of state wise, year-wise funds released for setting up cold chain units by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries during last three years and the current year are at Annexure-II.

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries is presently assisting 135 integrated cold chain projects. Of this, 97 have already been achieved completion and commenced commercial operation. Operationalization of 135 cold chain projects envisages creation of a cold chain capacity of 5.01 lakh MT of Cold Storage/Controlled Atmosphere/Deep Freezer, 116.40 MT/Hr of Individual Quick Freeze, 52.65 lakh Litre Per Day of Milk Processing/Storage and 766 nos. of Reefer Vehicles. Out of this, Ministry has so far created a capacity of 3.70 lakh metric tonnes of cold storage, 95.04 metric tonnes per hour of Individual Quick Freezing (IQF), 37.96 lakh litres per day of Milk processing/ storage and 552 reefer vans.

(b) & (c): As detailed in reply to part (a) above, as per the study undertaken by National Centre for Cold Chain Development (NCCD) on All India Cold-chain Infrastructure capacity (Assessment of Status & Gap) there is a gap of 3.27 Million MT gap of cold storage. This gap, however, excludes the requirement for milk, meat, marine and processed products.

State-wise details of Cold Chain Projects received and sanctioned by Ministry of Food Processing Industries including Uttar Pradesh during the last three years and current year are at Annexure-III.

Government has further approved taking up 100 new integrated cold chain projects in 2016-17 for financial assistance. Accordingly, revised operational guidelines for scheme for Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure for taking up 100 new cold chain projects in 2016-17 have been issued on 29.08.2016. Based on the revised operational guidelines an Expression of Interest (EOI) was issued on 31.08.2016 inviting applications/proposals from prospective entrepreneurs for taking up 100 new integrated cold chain projects. Total 308 integrated cold chain proposals all over the country including Uttar Pradesh have been received against the Expression of Interest (EOI).

Recently the Ministry has also issued ‘In-principle’ approval to the 8 new Mega Food Park projects under scheme of Mega Food Parks.


(d): The Ministry of Food Processing Industries is presently assisting 135 integrated cold chain projects. Of this, 97 have already been achieved completion and commenced commercial operation. Presently there is no shortage of funds under the scheme for Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure.

(e): As per extant policy, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) up to 100%, under the automatic route, is allowed in food processing industries including cold chain infrastructure. As per the data provided by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the Food processing sector in the country has received US$ 5.67 billion worth of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) equity inflows from April, 2013 to December, 2016.

(f): National Horticulture Board, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has developed an online portal of a data base namely Integrated Cold Chain Availability Platform(ICAP) of integrated cold chain projects being assisted under the schemes of Government of India.