Parliament Question: Operational Cold-storages

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 815 TO BE ANSWERED ON 06/02/2026 OPERATIONAL COLD-STORAGES

815. SHRI SANDOSH KUMAR P:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE be pleased to state:

(a) the total number of cold storages operational in the country, State-wise along with storage capacity in each State;

(b) whether the existing cold storages are sufficient to meet the demands of the farmers across the country;

(c) if not, the additional capacity required to meet the demands; and

(d) the initiatives taken by Government to increase new cold storages across the country? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE (SHRI RAMNATH THAKUR)

(a): As per available information, currently, there are 8831 cold storages in the country with the capacity of 402.87 lakh MT. The State/UT-wise details of Cold Storages are at Annexure – I.

(b) & (c): A study was conducted by NABARD Consultancy Services (NABCONS) in 2015 on “All India Cold-chain Infrastructure Capacity (AICIC-2015)”. The study assessed the required capacity of cold storages at that time as 351.00 lakh MT against the existing capacity of 318.23 lakh MT in 2014. The State-wise details are at Annexure – II.

(d): Government is implementing various schemes to increase new cold storages for perishable horticulture produce throughout the country.

The Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare is implementing the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), under which capital assistance is provided for various horticulture activities, including construction/expansion/modernization of cold storage facilities of up to 5,000 MT capacity, across the country. Assistance under MIDH is provided on the basis of Annual Action Plans (AAPs) received from the States/UTs. The AAPs are prepared by the States/UTs in accordance with their assessed requirements, existing infrastructure, priority areas and availability of resources. The component of Cold Storage is demand/entrepreneur driven for which Government assistance in the form of credit linked back ended subsidy is available at the rate of 35% of the eligible project cost in general areas and 50% of the eligible project cost in case of NE & Himalayan States, Scheduled areas, vibrant villages, Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep Islands through respective State Horticulture Missions.Besides, National Horticulture Board (NHB) is implementing a scheme namely “Capital Investment Subsidy for Construction/Expansion /Modernization of Cold Storages and Storages for Horticulture Products”. Under the scheme, credit linked back-ended subsidy at the rate of 35% of the capital cost of the project in general areas and 50% in case of North East, hilly & scheduled areas for construction/expansion/modernization of cold storage and Controlled Atmosphere (CA) storage of capacity above 5000 MT and up to 20000 MT is available.

Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) implements a Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain, Food Processing and Preservation Infrastructure as one of the components of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) with the objective of reducing post-harvest losses of horticulture and non-horticulture produce and providing remunerative price to farmers for their produce. Under the scheme, Ministry provides financial assistance in the form of grant-in-aid at the rate of 35% for general areas and 50% for North East and Himalayan States, Integrated Tribal Development Programme (ITDP) areas and Islands for storage and transport infrastructure and at the rate of 50% and 75% respectively for value addition and processing infrastructure subject to a maximum grant- in-aid of Rs. 10.00 crore per project for setting up of integrated cold chain projects including irradiation facility. Standalone cold storages are not covered under the Scheme.

All the above schemes are demand/entrepreneur driven through commercial ventures for which government assistance is in the form of credit linked back ended subsidy/grant-in-aid and is

provided based on the proposals received from the States/entrepreneur.

Further, to strengthen agriculture infrastructure in the country, Government has launched Agriculture Infrastructure Funds (AIF) of Rs. 1.00 lakh crore. Under AIF, there is provision for collateral free term loan upto Rs. 2.00 crore and interest subvention of 3% on the term loan availed for creation of post-harvest infrastructure including establishment of cold storages.Annexure – I Annexure-I referred in reply to part (a) of the Rajya Sabha Unstrarred Question No. 815 for Answer on 06.02.2026 regarding “Operational Cold-storages” State wise distribution of Cold Storages as on 31.01.2026 in the Country S. No. Name of the State No. Capacity (MT) 1 Andaman & Nicobar Islands (UT) 4 2210 2 Andhra Pradesh & Telangana 480 1996340 3 Arunachal Pradesh 2 6000 4 Assam 45 212662 5 Bihar 316 1490200 6 Chandigarh (UT) 7 12462 7 Chhattisgarh 132 586863 8 Delhi 97 129857 9 Goa 29 7705 10 Gujarat 1032 4086046 11 Haryana 388 891494 12 Himachal Pradesh 89 181318 13 Jammu & Kashmir 102 404814 14 Jharkhand 60 250077 15 Karnataka 271 930379 16 Kerala 202 96655 17 Lakshadweep (UT) 1 15 18 Madhya Pradesh 341 1498651 19 Maharashtra 672 1259932 20 Manipur 2 4500 21 Meghalaya 4 8200 22 Mizoram 3 4071 23 Nagaland 5 8150 24 Orissa 182 579321 25 Pondicherry (UT) 4 185 26 Punjab 780 2642715 27 Rajasthan 192 661876 28 Sikkim 2 2100 29 Tamil Nadu 188 399690 30 Telangana 117 627131 31 Tripura 14 46354 32 Uttar Pradesh 2489 15101408 33 Uttrakhand 62 206848 34 West Bengal 517 5952997 8831 40289226 (Source: Dire ctorate of Marketing and Inspection (DMI) upto 2009, National Horticulture Board

(NHB), National Horticulture Mission (NHM), Horticulture Mission for North East & Himalayan States (HMNEH)) and MoFPIAnnexure-II Annexure-II referred in reply to part (b) of the Rajya Sabha Unstrarred Question No. 815 for Answer on 06.02.2026 regarding “Operational Cold-storages” State wise requirement of Cold Storages in the Country as per NABCONS Report in 2014 Capacity Required S. No. State (In MT)

1. Andhra Pradesh 530925

2. Arunachal 7508

3. Assam 71996

4. Bihar 5123982

5. Chhattisgarh 513830

6. Delhi 40122

7. Goa 2271

8. Gujarat 2239476

9. Haryana 240395

10. HP 306147

11. J&K 907842

12. Jharkhand 24951

13. Karnataka 210313

14. Kerala 45874

15. MP 1867179

16. Maharashtra 157709

17. Manipur 5062

18. Meghalaya 18704

19. Mizoram 8920

20. Nagaland 8675

21. Odisha 305500

22. Punjab 1693408

23. Rajasthan 53395

24. Sikkim 2621

25. Tamil Nadu 194640

26. Telangana 277129

27. Tripura 8554

28. Uttar Pradesh 10675137

29. Uttarakhand 72931

30. West Bengal 9480929

31. UT &Others 4539 Total 35100664 *****