Parliament Question: Cold Storage and Refrigerated Transport Facilities

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.*294 ANSWERED ON 12TH MARCH, 2026 COLD STORAGE AND REFRIGERATED TRANSPORT FACILITIES *294. THIRU ARUN NEHRU: Will the Minister of Food Processing Industries be pleased to state: (a) Whether the acute absence of adequate cold storage and refrigerated transport facilities has resulted in wastage of Perambalur’s onions, maize and other perishables valued at several crores annually, leading to distress sale by small and marginal farmers and if so, the details thereof; (b) the specific reasons for inordinate delays in approval and funding of cold chain projects and Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme applications submitted by Perambalur-based entrepreneurs and Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) despite meeting eligibility criteria; (c) the status of all cold chain proposals pending clearance including timelines for techno- economic clearance, Detailed Project Report (DPR) approval and funds release, project- wise; and (d) the details of the concrete funding commitment, nodal agency responsibilities and firm commissioning timeline to halt Perambalur’s post-harvest losses and secure remunerative prices for farmers? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES (SHRI CHIRAG PASWAN) (a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House. *****STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *294 ANSWERED ON 12.03.2026 REGARDING “COLD STORAGE AND REFRIGERATED TRANSPORT FACILITIES” (a): The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) estimates post-harvest losses from time to time for various agri-produces in the country through commissioning of studies based on primary surveys. Two studies were commissioned by the Ministry through (i) Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) -Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering & Technology (CIPHET), 2015 with reference year 2012-14 and (ii) NABARD Consultancy Service Pvt. Ltd (NABCONS), 2022 with reference year 2020-22. As per the last study conducted by NABCONS, crop-wise estimates of overall post-harvest losses in the state of Tamil Nadu is as below: Tamil Nadu Product Overall Total Loss (%) Banana 7.47 Beans 7.82 Black gram 5.93 Egg 6.6 Groundnut 5.31 Maize 4.39 Marine fish 9.14 Meat 3.04 Mushroom 11.03 Paddy 5.98 Poultry Meat 6.08 Sorghum 6.29 Sugarcane 8.65 In order to address the gap in cold chain infrastructure and reduce post-harvest losses, the Government of India is implementing several schemes. The Ministry of Food Processing Industries is implementing the Central Sector umbrella scheme – Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (PMKSY) across the country. Under its component schemes, namely (i) Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure (Cold Chain Scheme), (ii) Creation of Infrastructure for Agro Processing Clusters (APC Scheme), and (iii) Operation Greens (OG) – Long Term Intervention, financial assistance is provided for development of integrated food processing infrastructure which may include cold storage facilities and refrigerated transport (reefer vehicles/insulated vans) as components of approved projects. As on 31.12.2025, under PMKSY, 690 cold storage facilities with preservation capacity of about 51.85 lakh MT per annum have been created and 1,768 reefer vehicles have been supported under 422 completed food processing projects. The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare supports development of post-harvest and cold storage infrastructure through schemes such as the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) and the Capital Investment Subsidy for Construction Expansion Modernization of Cold Storages and Controlled Atmosphere Storages implemented by the National Horticulture Board. These initiatives provide financial assistance for creation and modernization of post-harvestinfrastructure including pack houses, cold storages, ripening chambers, reefer transport, and controlled atmosphere (CA) storage facilities. As on 31.01.2025, 8760 cold storage facilities with capacity of 397.08 LMT have been created across the country. The details of the same is provided at Annexure. (b): As on date, no application from entrepreneurs or Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) based in Perambalur district of Tamil Nadu is pending for approval under the Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Food Processing Industries (PLISFPI) or under the Cold Chain component scheme of Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (PMKSY) in the Ministry of Food Processing Industries. (c): An expression of interest (EoI) was issued by this Ministry under Cold Chain scheme on 27.05.2025 for inviting applications/ proposals from the eligible entities from across the country. A total of 60 cold chain proposals were received till last date i.e. 08.08.2025 against the aforesaid EoI. The proposals received are under evaluation as per the extant Cold Chain scheme guidelines dated 22.05.2025. (d): The Ministry of Food Processing Industries does not set up food processing projects on its own; rather, it facilitates and supports their establishment by providing financial assistance to eligible entities, under its schemes. The component schemes of PMKSY are demand driven and proposals are invited by floating EoIs from time to time based on the availability of funds under the respective component schemes. Further, no State-wise / district-wise allocation of funds is made under these component schemes. Any eligible entity including farmers from across the country including Perambalur district of Tamil Nadu may avail the financial assistance in the form of grants-in-aid / subsidy at the rate of 35% of the eligible project cost in case of projects from general areas and 50% in case of projects from difficult areas as well as projects for SC/ ST, FPOs and SHGs subject to a maximum of ₹10.00 crore in case of Cold Chain scheme/ Agro Processing Clusters (APC) scheme and ₹ 10.00 crore in case of standalone projects and ₹ 15.00 crore in case of integrated projects under Operation Greens (OG) scheme for setting up of food processing projects along with cold storage infrastructure and refrigerated transport facilities. *****Annexure ANNEXURE REFERRED IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *294 ANSWERED ON 12.03.2026 REGARDING “COLD STORAGE AND REFRIGERATED TRANSPORT FACILITIES” State-wise Cold Storage facilities created as on 31.01.2025 in the country: Sr. State/UT No. of project Cold Storage created No. (Capacity in MT) 1 Andaman & Nicobar (UT) 4 2210 2 Andhra Pradesh & Telangana 480 1996340 3 Arunachal Pradesh 2 6000 4 Assam 43 206742 5 Bihar 316 1490200 6 Chandigarh 7 12462 7 Chhattisgarh 130 577663 8 Delhi 97 129857 9 Goa 29 7705 10 Gujarat 1023 4042770 11 Haryana 386 870703 12 Himachal Pradesh 89 181318 13 Jammu & Kashmir 92 151833 14 Jharkhand 59 242655 15 Karnataka 268 912417 16 Kerala 202 96655 17 Lakshadweep 1 15 18 Madhya Pradesh 320 1381827 19 Maharashtra 665 1219851 20 Manipur 2 4500 21 Meghalaya 4 8200 22 Mizoram 3 4071 23 Nagaland 5 8150 24 Odisha 182 579321 25 Puducherry 4 185 26 Punjab 770 2604206 27 Rajasthan 190 648908 28 Sikkim 2 2100 29 Tamil Nadu 188 399690 30 Telangana 116 617131 31 Tripura 14 46354 31 Uttar Pradesh 2488 15096476 32 Uttarakhand 62 206848 33 West Bengal 517 5952997 Total 8760 39708360 (Source: Directorate of Marketing and Inspection (DMI) up to 2009, National Horticulture Board (NHB), National Horticulture Mission (NHM), Horticulture Mission for North East & Himalayan States (HMNEH)) and MoFPI).