India’s cold chain heroes

Precision matters when freshness is on the line. Meet the cold chain heroes using sensors, digital twins, and smart tech to safeguard perishables—from farm produce to vaccines—ensuring every degree stays exactly where it should.

India’s cold chain landscape remains highly fragmented, with warehousing, transportation, and tech operations often managed independently. The businesses look to manage operating costs and the impact on neighbours and the environment. Today’s online consumers have high expectations from brands, especially when ordering perishable items online. They demand freshness and safety in their perishable deliveries.

Rising disposable incomes, expanding tourism, and a growing appetite for chilled and frozen products drive demand for refrigerated logistics. Innovative approaches like smart warehouses, live data monitoring, and integrated logistics enable the delivery of temperature-controlled solutions right to the last mile. As global reliance on fresh produce, temperature-sensitive medical goods, and vaccines intensifies, technology emerges as a pivotal solution. A continuous, unbroken cold chain is critical, whether farm to fork or lab to hospital.

Innovation and technology

At the core of today’s technological evolution in perishable logistics are Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Sensors embedded in reefer trucks and cold storage units track temperature, humidity, door openings, and vibrations in real time. The data is streamed to cloud platforms, allowing logistics operators complete visibility into their cold chain in motion.

Daipayan Adhikari, Supply Chain Development Manager at United Warehouse Company Ltd., Saudi Arabia, explains that temperature sensors, GPS trackers, and IoT-based telematics are now standard in refrigerated vehicles. These tools offer real-time alerts about temperature breaches and help optimise routes for fuel savings and better fleet utilisation—an absolute necessity for industries like pharmaceuticals, where temperature deviations outside the 2–8°C range can render entire shipments unusable.

Neville Mevawala, Head of Sales & Marketing – Material Handling Equipment at Godrej Enterprises Group, emphasises that IoT sensors attached to storage and transport units continuously relay vital data on environmental conditions. These real-time insights allow immediate responses to discrepancies, ensuring goods remain in optimal conditions. Smart sensors now track location, temperature and environmental conditions.

In pharmaceutical transport, this technology is indispensable for meeting global GDP (Good Distribution Practices) standards. “Even a small breach in temperature during transit can invalidate an entire vaccine batch,” explains an industry expert. Even minor temperature fluctuations can spoil a batch of vaccines, but losses are minimised with IoT alerts and rapid response protocols.

Infrastructure

Efficient material handling in cold logistics and warehousing is equally important. Technologies now include cold-tolerant forklifts, automated conveyors, and RFID-enabled pallet jacks that enable real-time inventory management.

The last-mile delivery infrastructure is undergoing modernisation with tech-driven micro-fulfilment centres. Abhishek Pratap Sharma, AVP—Sales and Business Development, Brring Distribution Solutions, recommends leveraging refrigerated vehicles fitted with IoT temperature sensors and adopting hub-and-spoke cold chain models within cities. Advanced route optimisation software reduces transit times and thermal stress on cargo—key to meeting the surging demands of e-commerce, pharma, and food delivery sectors.

GPS

With GPS tracking and geofencing, logistics companies can pinpoint a vehicle’s exact location and predict delivery times accurately. More importantly, they can ensure trucks stay on schedule and avoid traffic disruptions.

According to Abhishek Sharma, GPRS-enabled reefers now feature geofencing, tamper-proof containers, temperature alarm systems, and shock-absorbing packaging to preserve high-value perishables. Combined with AI-based route optimisation algorithms, these systems help minimise transit time while ensuring the energy-efficient operation of refrigeration units. The result is lower fuel consumption, reduced carbon footprint, and improved delivery consistency.

Digital Twins and Predictive Maintenance

One of the most cutting-edge developments is the deployment of digital twins—virtual models of reefer trucks, cold storage systems, and key equipment. These twins simulate real-world operations using live data, allowing logistics operators to foresee issues like thermal leakage or component failure before they occur.

Machine Learning algorithms and predictive maintenance become proactive rather than reactive, ensuring minimal downtime and maximum safety for sensitive shipments.

Smart Warehousing and Blockchain Integrity

The current cold storage warehouses are embracing automation. AI-driven climate control systems adjust real-time internal conditions to conserve energy while preserving product quality. Robotic arms now support inventory management, ensuring compliance with FIFO (First In, First Out) and reducing spoilage.

Blockchain is also gaining ground, offering a secure, tamper-proof digital record of every step in the supply chain, from source to shelf. This is especially crucial in regulated sectors like pharmaceuticals and meat exports, where traceability is key to safety for regulatory compliance and customer confidence.

Perishable safety during transport

Managing the storage and transit of perishable goods now involves a fully integrated supply chain model that offers real-time visibility, synchronised operations, and adaptive inventory tracking. This improves shelf-life management, reduces waste, and ensures compliance with food safety norms.

Sanjay Aggarwal, CMD of Dev Bhumi Cold Chain, underlines the importance of expanded distribution in ensuring food security. Broader access to markets helps farmers secure better prices and reduces food waste while consumers access rich produce.

To preserve product integrity, practices such as multi-point temperature monitoring, pre-cooling, staging before transport, and advanced cold packaging using gel packs or PCM (Phase Change Material) boxes are now widely adopted.

Greener Reefer Fleets

The new generation of refrigerated trucks is designed with Smart insulation, better compressors, and even hybrid or electric drives. Some trucks feature dual evaporator systems, allowing different zones within the same vehicle to carry goods at varying temperatures—a crucial benefit when transporting diverse cargo like blood plasma and seafood simultaneously.

Solar panels on truck roofs now power IoT systems and auxiliary functions, while PCM panels maintain cold conditions even during power outages or unloading periods, improving energy efficiency.

Looking Ahead

Technology is now the backbone of the perishable transport industry. From micro sensors in fruit crates to high-tech freezer simulations, these innovations ensure that sensitive cargo arrives safer, fresher, and with end-to-end transparency.

Farmers now use mobile apps to schedule refrigerated pickups and access real-time pricing data, enabling smarter market choices. For consumers, QR codes on packaging can now reveal the product’s entire cold chain journey, building unprecedented trust in freshness and quality. Still, challenges remain: high capital costs, underdeveloped rural infrastructure, and a shortage of skilled manpower. But with growing awareness and falling tech costs, adoption is rising rapidly.

As India continues to scale, we may soon see electric or hydrogen-powered reefer trucks with smart suspension systems traversing an expansive highway network. Iot-equipped transport containers and storage sites will offer precision environmental control.

With contingency systems in place for vehicle breakdowns, the cold chain is becoming more resilient than ever. Cold chain operations are being redefined for commerce, health, and food security as we bridge gaps between storage, transport, and real-time monitoring.

=====

Neville Mevawala, Head of Sales & Marketing – Material Handling Equipment at Godrej Enterprises Group

IoT devices and sensors provide real-time data on temperature, humidity, and other critical parameters throughout the supply chain.

Sanjay Aggarwal, Chairman & Managing Director, Dev Bhumi Cold Chain Pvt. Ltd.

We can expect to see state-of-the-art green-energy warehouses and electric or hydrogen-powered reefer trucks on air-shocker systems travelling across a vast network of highways.

Priyank Patel, Chief Executive Officer, Shri Maruti Integrated Logistics (SMILe)

Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVS) are transforming the cold chain by reducing labour dependency and accelerating pallet movements within freezing zones.

Daipayan Adhikari, Supply Chain Development Manager, United Warehouse Company Limited, Saudi Arabia

Technologies such as temperature sensors, GPS trackers, and IoT-based telematics are now standards in refrigerated vehicles and offer real-time alerts.

Abhishek Pratap Sharma, AVP – Sales and Business Development, Brring Distribution Solutions

Vertical storage solutions maximise cubic space, while temperature-controlled containers help maintain the integrity of perishable goods.