1Assistant Professor (Economics), School of Liberal Studies, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Delhi, Lothian Road, Kashmere Gate, Delhi-110006
2Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Delhi College of Arts & Commerce, University of Delhi, New Delhi-110023
*Corresponding author's email: ssaksena@dcac.du.ac.in
JEL Codes L81, L88, M21, R30.
Government of India (GOI) established the National Centre for Cold Chain Development (NCCD) in 2011 as a nodal institution for developing Cold Chain (CC) infrastructure. NCCD (2015) assessed demand-based capacity requirements for CC infrastructure and highlighted the lopsided nature of CC development on account of (i) primary focus on building cold stores (CSs) and (ii) glaring demand-supply mismatch of CSs across states. This study attempts to empirically identify factors responsible for skewed distribution of CSs capacity by assessing performance of CSs across states over the five-year period prior to NCCD's inception. The findings suggest that private investment decisions are driven by project's viability and profitability and not prima facie government's support, and underscore the need for NCCD to revisit its stance and take cognizance of other fundamental factors responsible for slow pace of investment in states with deficit capacity.
Cluster development, financial and economic performance, infrastructure, integrated cold chain
