“When we talk about cold chain people often restrict their thought process at cold storage, but there are things way beyond it. There is a complete forward & backward linkage required completing the chain and rather making it more viable. Since this industry involves huge capital investment in this, there are government incentives & subsidies. The industry as a whole should grow by 18-20 % annually till 2025 as per our estimates”- Abhimanyu Narang, COO, Narang Cold Storage

Going back to the early days, what was Narang Cold Storage’s initial business and when it’s started?

It all commenced in 1969, Narang Cold Storage’s initial business was primarily concentrated in providing storing services for potatoes and manufacturing of Ice Blocks, which is still operational in our current business model. It was more of a traditional cold storage.

What other new projects have you got under way?

We have plans to increase our presence in the distribution sector of Cold chain by developing more temperature controlled vehicles to ensure delivery of temperature sensitive products throughout India as cold chain market is in a dire need of systematic infrastructure and supply chain management. Our distribution hubs are under construction in two states.

You’re growing quickly at the moment. How much more capacity have you to take on more cold storage projects and work?

We’ve grown at a good pace in past years and we plan to fuel our growth however this time targeting the complete cold chain instead of limiting our scope to just the cold storage services. As on date we have created a descent capacity of 21000 MT in bulk storage at along with allied businesses.

Which industry sectors are your customers in?

Our clientele includes farmers, traders, small business owners and big corporations, in short we serve all from big to small.

How do you sum up your proposition for customers in offering cold storage services in India?

As it’s embodied in our mission and values; we strive to ensure smooth trade and fulfillment of cold chain services across all commodities and we believe that there can only be significant growth in the economy if its consistent across all trade sectors including farming

How big are Narang Group as a business in India? 

Our reach of operations is limited to Madhya Pradesh as of now, however our vision outreaches nationwide presence not only in daily cold chain operations but also other industries.

How do you compare with other specialist Cold Storage companies?

Our business model is quite differentiated in terms of focus of operations throughout the year, we do benchmark ourselves against the big names in this industry while keeping a unique business proposition and it is always inspiring to compare with the specialists and established brands in any industry

Could you please share your views on Indian Cold Chain Industry for our magazine readers?

We at Narang are very bullish on the complete Industry. Once GST gets going smoothly things should move even smoother. When we talk about cold chain people often restrict their thought process at cold storage, but there are things way beyond it. There is a complete forward & backward linkage required completing the chain and rather making it more viable.There are lot of investment opportunities in the sector. Since this industry involves huge capital investment in this, there are government incentives & subsidies. The industry as a whole should grow by18-20 % annually till 2025 as per our estimates

Finally, where do you see the Narang Group going from here?

On creating new bulk capacity front we are consolidating but our main focus is to eradicate the distribution gaps, hence our first distribution hub for flowers shall be ready by November 2017. This is though a pilot project but we believe it would be in full swing by mid 2018.