India loses 40% post‑harvest
Food‑system posts highlight massive post‑harvest losses in India — roughly 40% of fruits and vegetables are wasted despite annual production exceeding 330 million tonnes, with a reported ~38 million‑tonne shortfall in cold‑storage capacity cited as a key bottleneck [](https://x.com/i/status/2032334533052301546).
Official data shows India now has about 8,815 cold‑storage [units pib.gov.in], giving a combined refrigerated capacity of roughly 40.21 million metric tonnes. More than four‑fifths of that capacity is single‑commodity storage used for potatoes, leaving limited multi‑commodity space for fruits and [vegetables vigyanvarta.in]. Cold‑storage capacity is geographically skewed: Uttar Pradesh alone holds a disproportionate share, accounting for over 38% of national capacity in recent [mappings consultmcg.com]. Many facilities run near full — utilisation rates are commonly reported around 70–75% — constraining spare space even as perishable volumes [rise godwitt.in]. A government‑commissioned survey and press reports put the annual value of post‑harvest and related losses in the hundreds of billions of rupees, with one recent estimate at about ₹1.5 lakh crore per year. [hindustantimes.com]. The Ministry of Food Processing’s cold‑chain programme under PMKSY has approved hundreds of projects: authorities report 395 approvals to date, creating 25.52 lakh tonnes/year of preservation capacity and 114.66 lakh tonnes/year of processing capacity, and recent cabinet allocations added nearly ₹1,920 crore to expand the scheme. [pib.gov.in]. Market trackers note heavy private interest — analysts project the Indian cold‑chain market to grow rapidly (a multibillion‑dollar market with double‑digit CAGR forecasts over the 2024–29 window), signalling commercial capacity expansion alongside public schemes. [researchandmarkets.com].
