When Indicold encountered automation

This is the story of how an Indian cold chain warehousing startup transformed itself from an ordinary storage firm to a high-tech automation solution provider when faced with the harsh realities of Indian real estate.

- Libin Chacko Kurian

The Indian cold chain industry is unforgiving and extremely competitive.” These are the words of Kartik Jalan, Founder of the cold chain logistics firm Indicold, who points out that it is one of the most challenging industries to do business in. “If you look at the history of cold chain logistics, it is littered with a lot of failures. I started in 2013 and have seen so many companies come and go.”

He noted that there are more than 3,500 players in the country, and none of them, even the biggest ones, will have a market share of more than 0.3 or 0.4 percent. “Even in the organised markets, the share is around 16 to 17 percent.”

Thus, he believes there is a huge opportunity for a player to come and grow in the country.

Founded by Kartik Jalan and Niharika Jalan, and backed by Fundalogical Ventures, Indicold aims to reach 1.2 million pallet capacity by 2028.

On April 25, 2025, Indicold announced the launch of its newest and second fully automated frozen facility. This is a 10,000-pallet, 90,000 sq ft Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS)-powered warehouse in Gujarat's Detroj.

Located 60 kilometres west of Ahmedabad city, the -20°C precision temperature-controlled facility will serve agri-food, QSR, FMCG, and export sectors.

Indicold operates 17 cold chain facilities nationwide, including 6 leased ones. The company primarily follows a revenue-sharing model, which Jalan likens to an aggregator or the "Airbnb of warehousing.” “We work with existing cold storage owners or manufacturers who have excess capacity, and we market them. We have been doing this since 2017, and we have recently started leasing out facilities.”