New Delhi, Aug 17 - India is short by 10 million tonnes of cold storage capacity due to which over 30 percent of agricultural produce goes waste every year, according to an industry report.
The report, jointly prepared by the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) and global consultancy KPMG, said the country has to build new cold chain infrastructure to increase its storage capacity.
'More than 30 percent of produce is lost due to poor cold chain infrastructure. India has 21.7 million tonnes of facility and it needs over 10 million tonnes more of such capacities,' Assocham president Sajjan Jindal said.
The report, 'Food Processing and Agri Business', added that India's export-related infrastructure for agri produce is grossly inadequate especially at seaports and airports.
Cold storage facilities now available are mostly for single commodities like potato, orange, apple, grapes, pomegranate and flowers, which result in poor capacity utilization.