India's cold chain gets a digital upgrade with Citrus Freight

Biplob Barik, Co-founder and CEO of Citrus Freight, spoke to Nikitha Sebastian about his journey, the gaps in India's cold chain, and how technology is reshaping perishable exports.

- By Nikitha Sebastian

India's cold chain logistics sector is at an inflection point. Despite being one of the world's largest producers of perishable goods, the country faces massive post-harvest losses and low export realisation due to fragmented infrastructure and opaque processes. As exporters navigate the growing demand for temperature-sensitive shipping, a new wave of tech-driven logistics platforms is stepping in to close the efficiency gap.

Among the companies leading this shift is Citrus Freight, a full-stack reefer logistics platform founded to simplify end-to-end cold chain exports. At the helm is Biplob Barik, Co-founder and CEO, whose mission is to help Indian exporters, particularly agri and seafood producers, move perishable cargo with greater visibility, reliability and control. In this interview, Barik discusses the company's technology-driven model, the challenges facing perishable exporters, and what it will take for India's cold chain ecosystem to scale sustainably and competitively.

What specific gaps in India's cold chain logistics prompted you to launch Citrus Freight, and how is the platform addressing them today?

India, despite being one of the world's largest producers of perishable goods, contributes only about 2% to global exports due to systemic inefficiencies in cold chain logistics. A significant share of agricultural produce goes to waste every year due to fragmented logistics, poor visibility, unreliable container availability, and unclear pricing. Citrus Freight was launched to address this gap with a full-stack digital platform tailored to the needs of agri- and perishable exporters. We focus on digital rate discovery booking, reducing cargo spoilage, improving container turnaround times, and offering real-time tracking, all through a streamlined tech interface. Our goal is to simplify and standardise reefer shipping for Indian exporters and connect them to global markets with confidence.