“I do read about losses that happen because we try to save small costs to not transport or store goods in refrigerated conditions which overall leads to notional loss of the cargo in its value. Which is quite humongous as compared to the costs.”- Tarun Arora, Director, IG International Pvt. Ltd.

Mr. Tarun: After a long time i.e. around 5 years, We got a chance to cover an interaction with you for our magazine ColdChainManagement again and since then lots of big achievements, IG international has been awarded, So first of all, can you give us a picture of the size of IG International’ operations in India now?

IG International is managing close to 80000 MT of fresh produce annually largely apples followed by other products like kiwifruit, pears, citrus and other fresh products. We have offices in 21 cities across India and cold chain facility in 14 locations. We are into imports of fresh produce that are currently being imported from more than 31 countries around the world. IG has invested in 100 refrigerated trucks.

As a highly successful customer-facing business with global presence, IG International presumably had a previous history of strong customer service. So what brought about the new initiative?

It is customer service that has helped us achieve our goals. We take advice from the customer very seriously that includes all new initiatives including new packaging for few of our key products and construction of cold chain facilities built to service our customers in the most efficient way.

What are your core products and services now: what are you best known for? How do they help make working in cold chain management?

IG is best known for fresh produce but apples is our main product. Fresh produce needs cold chain products like cherries, avocados, blueberries are so perishable that without cold chain it is just not possible to manage perishability well to give that freshness to our consumer. Cold chain plays a very vital role in our industry.

Which industry sectors are your customers in? Can you name some of your recent major projects and tell us about them?

Our customer is segmented mainly into segments like Horeca, Retail, Traditional Markets, Caterers, E-commerce.

How has the company evolved over time?

My father who is our chairman started the company almost 5 decades ago in Northern India the key change happened when our chairman started to import fresh apples from Australia, US and China.  This was the key change and from 120MT containers today we are handling 80000MT as a company.

Can you tell us about your Cold Storage operations? How do they work?

We have a total of around 14 facilities with a total capacity of 40000 pallets. most of them are largely around port locations and in Fruit market area to help us logistics the product to our consumer quickly.

Where is your main Indian hub?

Our main facilities are in Mumbai and Bangalore.

What are the benefits of belonging to your fresh produce business, compared to other networks?

We have complete control over the whole supply chain through which we are able to ensure delivery under best conditions and at best taste profile. We take possession of good from the port and manage it in our own logistics. This is our biggest differentiating factor among most.

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

For our products, the cold chain is critical and cold chain support perishability management. One of the key messages that I have for the readers is to promote cold chain for the entire fresh produce sector. I do read about losses that happen because we try to save small costs to not transport or store goods in refrigerated conditions which overall leads to notional loss of the cargo in its value. Which is quite humongous as compared to the costs.

What are the future plans of the group?

We continue with our expansions of setting up new facilities in East of India where still a lot of work is required for the overall growth of the cold chain. We are planning facilities immediately in Kolkatta, Guwahati and Siliguri that will help us gain access to newer markets.

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