REFCOLD India Emerson Awards were instituted to recognise and felicitate innovative and outstanding energy efficient projects and products in the cold chain and refrigeration space. There were three categories of awards. The muchawaited awards ceremony was held on the opening day of REFCOLD 2019 on November 21. It was a spectacular evening in tune with the spirit of the industry. The venue was packed to capacity with delegates. The air was thick with suspense and excitement as the nominees waited with bated breath for the results to be announced. The ceremony was punctuated by dance acts by Rudri Pictures on themes relevant to the industry.

G. Anand Kumar, Chairman, REFCOLD India 2019, recounted the REFCOLD journey, and observed that REFCOLD is a nation building exercise.

ISHRAE National President Vikram Murthy, in his address, noted that the industry is not very well organised, and has to mature. He underlined the importance of reliability,
safety, and refrigerant phaseout. He thanked Shirish Adi – VP and MD, Emerson India – for partnering the awards event.

B. B. Kale of Emerson gave an introduction to the company and its activities. Expressing happiness at the company’s association with ISHRAE, he spoke about the industry’s contribution towards the goal of doubling farmers’ incomes.

The Jury consisted of Vijay Sardana (lawyer, regulatory compliance and risk management expert), S. K. Sharma (MD, Global Agri), Amit Vyas (MD, Amul Dairy), Sonia Prashar (MD, NürnbergMesse India), B. B. Kale (Emerson Climate Technologies India), and Richie Mittal (President-elect, ISHRAE).

The Technical Committee members were M. S. Manjunath (Advisor), Chetan Shetty (Emerson Climate Technologies), and Jeyaprakash Gurusamy (Ingersol Rand).

Vikram Murthy, G. Anand Kumar, ISHRAE presidential members K. Ramachandran, C. Subramaniam and Pankaj Dharkar, and Shirish Adi felicitated the Jury and Technical Committee members. M. S. Manjunath shared his experience of the awards process as a Technical Committee member, giving some glimpses of the thoroughness and rigour with which the entries were evaluated.
The winners in the different categories are listed below.
Innovative Refrigeration Plant
Winner: Metro Cash-n-Carry
Runner up: Ilios Breweries

Innovative Refrigeration Product
Joint Winner 1: Evergreen Systems
Joint Winner 2: Blue Star
Runner up: Dry-Air Safe A&T

Innovative Cold Chain Infrastructure Project
Jury Special Mention: Promethean Power Systems

After the awards were presented, G. Anand Kumar introduced the team behind REFCOLD 2019, which had toiled tirelessly for more than a year to make the event a grand success. The program ended with the release of REFCOLD 2020 brochure by G. Anand Kumar, Anoop Ballaney (Chair, REFCOLD India 2020), Vikram Murthy and Richie
Mittal (National President-elect, ISHRAE). REFCOLD 2020 will be held at IEML, Greater Noida from October 29 to 31, 2020. Satyendra Mehra – Group Director,
NürnbergMesse India, proposed the vote of thanks.