The National Centre for Cold-chain Development (NCCD) is an autonomous think tank body established by the Government of India with an agenda to positively impact and promote the development of the cold-chain sector in the country. NCCD was registered under the Society Registration Act, 1860 and given sanction by the Union Cabinet of India on 9 February 2012 in a session chaired by the country's Prime Minister.
History India is one of the largest producers of agricultural products and one of the global leaders in the pharmaceutical sector. Yet, it is known to have a fledgling cold-chain, which results in supply chain losses of food and other resources. These losses have been stated to be as high as USD 8 to 15 billion per annum from the agriculture sector alone. To address this concern, the government had earlier constituted a National Task Force on Cold-chain in 2008. This task force was discharged in 2010 on completing its mandate and in its report recommended that a dedicated institute be established to promote and coordinate various cold-chain initiatives undertaken by different government arms and the private industry. Cold chains are common in the food and pharmaceutical industries and also some chemical shipments. The Government of India is one of the driving forces in developing the cold-chain industry and supports private participation through various subsidy schemes and grants. Investment in cold-chain in India was also opened under the automatic route for 100% FDI participation. The existing cold-chain in India largely comprised (in 2010) of comparatively small private companies with a regional or local footprint. Most of the earlier infrastructure developed to service the cold-chain needs of the country was focused on the storage of potato. While this specific produce is not native to India and is harvested only once only during winter, the success of cold-chain intervention has made potatoes available all through the year and is now considered part of the country's staple diet. In the previous two decades, India has been developing at a quick pace and an increasing demand for high-value foods with a shift towards horticultural crops has been documented. This, coupled with rapid urbanisation resulted in multi-fold changes to the spending and consumption pattern of India's population. The existing food supply chain systems were unable to cope with these fast-changing demographic trends and the lack of efficient and effective supply chains is understood to lead to a variety of losses in the perishable food segment. In 2012, Indian farmers produced 240 million metric tonnes of horticultural produce, almost equal to its grain and cereals production. Various reports indicated that 18% to 40% of this produce was lost due to supply chain inefficiencies, concluding that a focused effort was required to promote the development of the cold-chain in the country. The Indian government and its Planning Commission spelt out clear intention, that cold-chain has to be supported. Amongst the core identified development areas are the base infrastructure, environmentally friendly technologies, standards, and protocols, enabling policies and specialised skills.
Organisation NCCD is overseen by a Governing Council and an Executive Committee, with equal representation of public and private sectors, chaired by the Secretary (A&C, Ministry of Agriculture). The principal executive of this body was originally conceived as its Director who would implement the decisions of the Executive Body. The first Director of NCCD was Mr. Sanjeev Chopra, a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture. However, in keeping with the technical domain requirements, the governing bodies initially decided to invite an established leader from the private sector as a chief advisor to assist in incubating the body and develop a roadmap. In this initial stage, various concept level revisions were proposed regarding cold chain and the requirements to make it future ready. In these years, India's horticultural production also overtook that in food grains. Subsequently, in 2014 the Governing Council decided that this body required to be strengthened with relevant domain expertise. It restructured the organization and added the position of Chief Executive Officer, to be filled by an industry stalwart with hands-on domain experience. The government officer nominated Director, was thereafter to provide administration support, with the professional Chief Executive Officer responsible to provide executive and technical direction. Capt. Pawanexh Kohli was the first Chief Advisor and the founding Chief Executive Officer of NCCD and headed this organization for its first eight years from 2012 to 2020. During this period, the first CEO also served in an individual capacity as Chief Advisor to the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on supply chain and post-harvest management in India. NCDD was involved in government discussions on Agri-logistics and cold chain development. NCCD think tank has participation from various private & government stakeholders ranging from Educational & Research Institutions, Regulatory authorities, Trade bodies, individual Companies involved as users or providers of cold-chain, farmer Groups and Associations as well as Individuals as Associate members. NCCD comprises members from the cold-chain stakeholders community and administered by its office secretariat staff. Each such member group also elects representation on the governing council, enabling NCCD to reflect inclusive governance and emulate a public-private partnership model. As of February 2020, Dr BNS Murthy (a government officer and the Horticulture Commissioner of India), has been nominated to the role of Chief Executive Officer.
Technical committees NCCD has constituted the following technical committees which include industry leaders as its members.
Training, HRD and R&D Committee. Committee for Strengthening Supply Chain & Logistics. Application of Non-conventional Energy Sources in Cold Chain Infrastructure. Technical Specification, Standards, Test Laboratory and Product Certification Committee. These committees contribute towards this nodal body's functioning along its road-map.
Tasks NCCD is tasked with objectives of national importance which include,
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