Literature Review on Social Opportunities for the Solar Cold Chain System in India-An Exploratory Study

India is among the prime producers of nutritious horticultural produces, spices, poultry, fruits, dairy, vegetables, fish and meat in the world. Cold chain system provides care and protection to the products in transit from the source to end user with standardized storage, distribution and inventory facilities. The operation of the cold chain system is limited to the temperature sensitivity of the perishable, bio medical, pharmaceutical and chemical products. The Cold Chain Management is based on the Product Life of the fresh and processed food products. Cold chain system is integrated through static and mobile infrastructure, service standards and protocol and skilled resources. The cold storage is used to preserve both fresh and processed food items. Cold chain increases the holding life of the produce and increase opportunities to the producers to reach more customers in the market. This paper addresses the knowledge gap based on the review of literature on the areas connected to cold supply chain to suggest opportunities for the inception of solar cold chain system in India.