By Rakesh Kumar
Managing Editor, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Journal, Mumbai.

The second edition of REFCOLD India was held at HITEX Exhibition Centre in Hyderabad, the capital of Telangana, from November 21 to 23. It was organized by ISHRAE and
co-organized by NürnbergMesse. The government of Telangana was the State Partner. The event was supported by several international associations like AIRAH, IIAR, AHK, CAR, REHVA, ISKID, IOR, and IIF/IIR. In addition to the exhibition, there were a number of concurrent events such as workshops, seminars, awards night, international poster competition, business quiz, entrepreneurs’ conclave, innovation zone, launch of an online G. Anand Kumar (Chair – REFCOLD 2019), Richie Mittal (Presidentelect, ISHRAE), D. Chandrasekher (Additional Industrial Advisor – MSME), L. Venkatrami Reddy (Director Horticulture, Telangana), Rupesh Singh (Director Logistics, Telangana), Jenson Sebastian (REFCOLD Convenor) and C. Subramaniam (National Steering Committee Chair – REFCOLD 2019) light the lamp to open the three-day event certification course by ISHRAE, Sino-India Cold Chain Forum, B2B meetings, and a number of product launches. And the industry showed its readiness and willingness to contribute to as well as gain from its rapid growth. There were more than 160 exhibitors, making it India’s largest cold chain event.

The take-away from REFCOLD India 2019 was that India is moving towards an integrated, widespread, smart, and sustainable cold chain. The country is poised to create a scientifically developed, technologically sound, environmentally friendly, and energy efficient cold chain embracing the entire spectrum of stakeholders such as producers, processors, cold store owners, transporters, distributors, retailers and consumers.