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Cold storage and pack-house infrastructure

Cold storage and pack-house infrastructure for horticultural produce is supported in India through capital subsidies under the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) and the Integrated Cold Chain Scheme of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries. These programmes underwrite the cost of pre-cooling, sorting, grading, packing, refrigerated storage and reefer transport that connect production clusters to distant urban and export markets.

Overview

The National Horticulture Board (NHB) administers the Capital Investment Subsidy Scheme as a sub-component of MIDH, while MoFPI runs the Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure scheme under the umbrella of PMKSY for the food processing sector. Both schemes are credit-linked and back-ended, requiring beneficiaries to first raise term-loan finance from a scheduled lender.

Eligibility

Eligible beneficiaries include individuals, partnership firms, registered companies, Self-Help Groups, Farmer Producer Organisations and cooperatives. Projects must use technical specifications approved by the National Centre for Cold-chain Development (NCCD), with chamber volume reckoned at the standard of 3.4 cubic metres (120 cft) per metric tonne of capacity.

Benefit and structure

Under the NHB Capital Investment Subsidy Scheme the subsidy pattern is:

  • 40% of project cost (55% in hilly and scheduled areas) for cold stores up to 5,000 MT capacity
  • 35% of project cost (50% in hilly and scheduled areas) for cold stores in the 5,000-20,000 MT range

The subsidy is released after physical inspection of the completed facility.

Implementation

Project proposals are filed online through the NHB portal or MoFPI online application system, with state horticulture or food processing departments performing the field-level verification. Cold storage capacity is complementary to grading and packing standards (see Grading And Sorting Fresh Produce) and to the broader logistics network supported by Inter State Produce Logistics.

See also Grading And Sorting Fresh Produce, Midh Mission Integrated Horticulture, Inter State Produce Logistics and Nabard Agri Infrastructure Fund.

References

  1. Capital Investment Subsidy Scheme. National Horticulture Board.
  2. Cold-chain Assistance under MIDH. National Centre for Cold-chain Development.