Tecumseh Products India Cold Chain Food Grocery Retail

The cold chain has potential in India, and we see change concerning consumer preference. Also, when compared to other countries, we see low demand for cold chain technologies and related equipment.

Jegapriyan Govindarajan, Managing Director, Tecumseh Products India, while speaking on the COVID-19 scenario, the cold chain and its relevance in various sectors, he said: “In the post COVID – 19 scenario, the biomedical and pharmaceutical segments are expected to step-up their investments in the cold chain.” Government policies, he added, are steered towards encouraging the development of the cold chain sector, but we see that the level of development may vary.

Food retails sector: A boost to the Indian cold chain market

Govindarajan also highlighted that the Indian retail sector is emerging as one of the top-five retail markets in the world by economic value. Estimating the value, he said: “Food and grocery retail in India exceed US $294 billion representing 16 per cent of India’s GDP. The food retail organised market constitutes of 3 per cent in comparison to the unorganised segment that forms 97 per cent of the food retailing market.” The unorganised sector in food retail is predominantly serviced by general stores, kirana stores, convenience stores and street markets.

India is presently the world’s largest producer of milk, the second-largest producer of fruits and vegetables and also has a good amount of production of seafood, meat, poultry products and is also the largest provider of generic drugs globally.

Govindarajan tells us that food processing is considered as one among the fastest-growing industries in India. The growth of the industry is supported by the availability of a large raw material production base like milk, banana etc. “Food processing is a priority sector for the Indian Government, as well as the focus sectors in the ‘Make in India’ initiative. Further, the availability of affordable credit and other fiscal incentives has also and will lead to growth,” he said.

Exploring innovation

Govindarajan asserts how Tecumseh has recently set-up the Global Tech Center in India, while it intends to develop many advanced products for the global market. “Once the products are launched in India, they will provide value to our customers. We have also invested in innovation, for instance, we have alternate refrigerants used within the cold chain, this is to minimize the impact on the climate,” he said. Tecumseh is one of the largest producers of Condensing Units to support the cold chain, he added, and from the refrigeration point of view, further, we are also focusing on variable speed technologies with an off-grid solution to support last-mile logistic to cold chain equipment.

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