Parliament Question: Schemes for setting up cold storage

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2406 TO BE ANSWERED ON 13/03/2026 SCHEMES FOR SETTING UP COLD STORAGE 2406. SHRI PRAMOD TIWARI: Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE be pleased to state: (a) whether any study has been conducted regarding cold-chain infrastructure capacity in the country; (b) If so, the findings thereof; (c) the various schemes being implemented for setting up of cold storage for perishable horticultural produce; and (d) the steps taken/proposed to be taken for creation of post-harvest infrastructure? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE (SHRI BHAGIRATH CHOUDHARY) (a) & (b): 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 – I. (c) & (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 for perishable horticultural produce 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. 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. The State wise details of cold storage sanctioned under AIF scheme as on 09th March, 2026 is at Annexure – II. As per available information, currently, there are 8831 cold storages in the country with the capacity of 402.89 lakh MT. The State/UT-wise details of Cold Storages are at Annexure – III.Annexure-I Annexure-I referred in reply to part (a) and (b) of the Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2406 for Answer on 13.03.2026 regarding “Schemes for setting up cold storages” State wise requirement of Cold Storages in the Country as per NABCONS Report in 2015 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 {Source: Study report of NABARD Consultancy Services (NABCONS) in 2015 on “All India Cold-chain Infrastructure Capacity (AICIC-2015)”}Annexure – II Annexure-II referred in reply to part (c) and (d) of the Rajya Sabha Unstrarred Question No. 2406 for Answer on 13.03.2026 regarding “Schemes for setting up cold storages” State wise details of cold storage sanctioned under AIF scheme as on 09th March, 2026 S.N. State No of Projects Amount Sanctioned (Cr) 1 Andhra Pradesh 57 253.43 2 Assam 12 33.46 3 Bihar 43 166.76 4 Chandigarh 1 5.50 5 Chhattisgarh 73 196.63 6 Delhi 3 2.99 7 Goa 9 13.08 8 Gujarat 349 1944.31 9 Haryana 71 190.39 10 Himachal Pradesh 47 125.54 11 Jammu and Kashmir 30 490.22 12 Jharkhand 31 47.04 13 Karnataka 115 477.05 14 Kerala 70 73.10 15 Madhya Pradesh 149 519.78 16 Maharashtra 292 847.36 17 Manipur 2 0.40 18 Odisha 40 45.38 19 Puducherry 2 2.28 20 Punjab 288 740.80 21 Rajasthan 69 149.75 22 Tamil Nadu 94 126.95 23 Telangana 39 178.09 24 Uttar Pradesh 864 2797.93 25 Uttarakhand 21 92.18 26 West Bengal 121 487.56 Grand Total 2892 10007.95 (Source: AIF Division)Annexure – III Annexure-II referred in reply to part (c) and (d) of the Rajya Sabha Unstrarred Question No. 2406 for Answer on 13.03.2026 regarding “Schemes for setting up 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: Directorate of Marketing and Inspection (DMI) upto 2009, National Horticulture Board (NHB), National Horticulture Mission (NHM), Horticulture Mission for North East & Himalayan States (HMNEH)) and MoFPI) *****