Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Associations in India (FFFAI) urged for a technology-based infrastructure for cold chain right from warehousing to transportation across the country to harness the tremendous potential of agro/food processing industry and requirement of logistics services for the same.
Speaking at a Panel Discussion on “Optimising the cold chain/strategies for enhancing warehousing & transport logistics” held during “ANUTECH 2023” event on 7th September at Bombay Exhibition Center (NESCO), Dr. Nirav Thakker, Executive Committee Member, FFFAI and Moderator of the Session pointed out that the cold chain industry in India is emerging very fast with a prospect of 14.37 percent CAGR in the next 5 years. He emphasised that the automation of techniques, which is being widely implemented in the warehousing sector in particular to support the storage & distribution of food, needs to be further augmented including the end-to-end cold chain.
Speaking on this occasion P.A. Bamane shared in detail the role of Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) in optimising the Cold chain and Transport Logistics through Infrastructure Development, Quality Assurance and Capacity Building for increasing exports of agricultural & food products from India.
Dr. Karuna Dhale deliberated on the role of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in Quality and Compliance aspects as well as various trade facilitation measures to expedite EXIM clearances.
Chaitaly Mehta highlighted various challenges being faced in handling clearance and transport of perishable cargo as part of the food supply chain with specific examples.
Commenting on the importance of the event and the panel discussion Shankar Shinde highlighted that as the world’s leading information and procurement platform, “ANUTECH” combines all technological solutions along the entire value chain – and that for all sectors of the food and beverage industry. According to him, currently, the focus of the Government of India is to increase the agro-export and especially processed food from India, which necessitates a robust end-to-end cold chain system utilising contemporary technologies to prevent wastage and compete with the world in terms of quality and price.
