17th September, 2019 Bangalore: Even as India suffers from an extremely high level of hunger, the weak cold chain infrastructure in the country leads to 16% of fruits and vegetables being wasted annually. Up to 10% of oilseeds, pulses and cereals grown in the country also go to waste. Lack of cold chain and proper storage facility, exports, transportation, adequate processing facilities, and marketing are fields where federal departments have failed to deliver, leading to wastage of food. REFCON 2019 organised by ISHRAE (Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers) was a one day event brought together a panel of cold chain experts for an open dialogue on latest trends and values based development in cold chain infrastructure and policies.
Mr. M.K. Sreekesh President, ISHRAE Bangalore said, “REFCON 2019 is an absolute necessity in today’s changing lifestyle where customers want to buy fresh produce from supermarkets and local retail shops. Thus, the importance of retail and transport refrigeration has become paramount for every single stakeholder in the supply chain. In spite of being the second largest producer of horticulture products, India lacks sufficient infrastructure to store and maintain perishable items. REFCON 2019, we’re proud to say, was able to create a framework of necessary solutions that may help resolve such problems.”
Mr. C.R. Janardhana President, FKCCI and Chief Guest of REFCON 2019 said, “ISHRAE’s efforts towards building a more efficient cold chain infrastructure through REFCON is an eye opener for all the concerned industries and stakeholders. The discussions we had today will have a significant impact on the government’s policies in the future and we hope that the issues faced in the supply chain will be rectified in order to help save food waste and other related executional inefficiencies.”
REFCON, although a one day event, saw participation from industry leaders such as Mr. Prasad Warrior (Emerson Climate Technologies Pvt. Ltd.), Mr. L Manivannan (Thermoking, Ingersoll Rand Technology and Services Pvt. Ltd.), Mr. Manjunath M.S (Innovation Insight Cold Chain Consulting), Mr. Chetan Tholpady (Emerson Climate Technologies Pvt. Ltd.) and Mr. B.C. Jyothirmaya (Hussmann Services India, LLP).
REFCON 2019 was concluded with discussions on new possibilities to create a more efficient, pragmatic and sustainable solution to the dwindling condition of India’s cold chain infrastructure which will help the government and other agencies to make the necessary changes in their supply chain.
The Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ISHRAE), was founded in 1981 at New Delhi by a group of eminent HVAC&R professionals. ISHRAE today has more than 28,780 HVAC&R professionals and Student-members. ISHRAE operates from 41 Chapters and sub Chapters spread all over India, with HQ in Delhi. It is led by a team of elected officers, who are members of the Society, working on a voluntary basis, and collectively called the Board of Governors.
