Gubba Cold Storage is an 11.8 million cubic feet company known for its passion for preservation. With 29 years of expertise and experience, Gubba has innovated and engineered the first of its kind rack supported cold storage in India. It is handled by state-of-the-art material handling equipment, preserves seed in 1.2 ton jumbo bags. In an exclusive interview with Cooling India, Gubba Nagender Rao, Managing Director of Gubba Cold Storage Limited says the government can charge electrical tariff as equivalent to that of agriculture…
How do you envisage the growth of Indian cold storage industry?
It is good news for the industry. The government’s this initiative will help to cover four corners of the country for serving the farming community. Really speaking, it’s an encouragement to the industry.
What are the bottlenecks in the Indian cold chain infrastructure as compared to the global cold chain industry?
We lack effective cold chain. As a result, products cannot be preserved in desired condition till reaching to the right consumer. Even after development in the industry, it has become a dire necessity to add a lot of cold storages and cold chain vehicles.
What kind of role National Centre for Cold Chain Development, National Horticulture Board has been playing for the industry for helping entrepreneurs in investing in the cold chain industry?
Though NHB is supporting by giving subsidies, the challenge lies in releasing funds in need of the hour.
What are services offered by Gubba Cold Storage for preserving products?
Gubba Cold Storage preserves perishables in a controlled environment maintaining temperatures from -20 degrees centigrade to +25 degrees centigrade and moisture from 10% to 50%. The perishables include seeds, vegetables, flowers, fruits, pharmaceuticals, frozen food, processed food, meat, dairy etc.
Gubba Germplasm Bank is a unique project which preserves valuable genetic material of seeds to be made available for future generations. The germplasm of the seed is stored at -20 degrees centigrade and can be preserved up to 50 years.
What technological innovations have been incorporated to make the services energy and cost efficient?
We have used waste heat of condenser for regeneration of dessicant in dehumidifier, thus, saving at least 20 KWH per cold storage. Gubba Cold Storage will be first cold storage having data loggers which are 21CFR certified. We have automated three cold storages.
Do you offer tailored Engineered Project Consulting for the industry? If ‘yes’, please elaborate.
Gubba Cold Infrastructure is an outcome of 30 years of expertise in cold storage construction and operations. We provide cold storage consulting services and turnkey projects in the field of cold storages.
What are the precautions taken by the company for storage of pharma products, seeds, horticulture products etc? Do you have any expansion plans?
We are planning for a cold storage exclusively for pharma industry. This will be certified for the usage of the pharma industry.
What steps do you expect from the government in terms of policy or financial aid for the industry in order to bring it back on growth trajectory?
Power plays a major role in the cold storage industry and cold storage has been declared as a priority sector. Considering this, the government can charge electrical tariff as equivalent to that of agriculture. It will really make a huge difference. It will help the industry to grow in a big way.
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