Rishabh Mishra, Director of Cruise Electrical Private Limited in a one-to-one interaction with Megha Iyer of TCBU Magazine, shares his company profile and insights on the cold chain industry and how Cruise plans to participate in this growing segment.
What is the Cruise heritage?
The story of Cruise begins with the story of one man fascinated by sheet metal engineering and other with air conditioning and refrigeration technology. Taking things apart, assembling components to complete the air-conditioning cycle and dreaming of the day when they establish their own mass production facility. In 1992, Paras Sirohia established a trading company and subsequently a manufacturing plant was built in Maharashtra, Gujarat, NCR. S.K Mishra, with 40 years of technical experience, having worked in York, Frick India for cold chain, then Carrier in its start-up phase, joined Cruise.
Since its founding in 1992, Cruise has continued to blend leading-edge technology with inspired design to make cooling solutions accessible to everyone because we believe superior technology is the key to superior living.
Having pioneered air conditioning technologies such as Dual-throw window and Tropical Inverter split cooling solutions, Cruise remains committed to setting new industry benchmarks and creating environment-friendly products. Each Cruise product undergoes 28 extensive reliability tests to achieve its global certification. Its cutting-edge expertise also makes it the preferred OEM for many global brands.
Why this late entry into refrigeration market?
Technology is our main asset. We were keen to enter the market with the latest technology, to keep us on equal footing with the developed world. The Prime Minister’s call for Atma Nirbhar Bharat resonated with us. We felt that the time is ripe for Cruise, as an SME to enter this growth industry, which is closely aligned with the air conditioning industry, and our focus on technology.
What is the opportunity in the cold chain?
The Indian cold chain market reached a value of ₹ 1425.49 Bn in 2020 as per IMARC. India is currently the world’s largest producer of milk, second largest producer of fruits and vegetables and has a substantial production of marine, meat and poultry products. Most of these products are temperature sensitive and require specific temperatures to be stored and transported. Although, there is a very large cold chain infrastructure in the country, India is still woefully behind international players in the cold chain industry. There is tremendous scope for growth.
There is also a large amount of wastage. Presently, India is among the top three in production of spices, fisheries, poultry, milk, fruits and vegetables. But India’s present share in global trade is very small. A key reason is the high level of wastage across the value chain. India’s wastage is nearly 4.6 – 15.9 percent wastage in fruits and vegetables, 5.2 percent in inland fish, 10.5 percent in marine fish, 2.7 percent in meat and 6.7 percent in poultry meat, notes Yes Bank’s latest study. The opportunities are high: applications in many segments, wide temperature requirements, precision on temperature control, multiple refrigerants and enormous opportunity.
What are the drivers in the Indian cold chain market?
Bulk milk cooling: In 2018-19, India’s milk production stood at 176.4 million tonnes which is around 20 percent of world milk production. Milk production has been growing at a CAGR of 4.5 percent over the last 20 years compared to around 2 percent CAGR of the world. We see a great opportunity in bulk cooling of milk. Milk must be cooled from 37 degrees C to about 3.3 degrees C, to preserve its quality. A refrigeration system does this by using a special refrigerant fluid to remove heat from the milk and release it into the outside air. Our condensing units are ideal for this segment. India is the number one producer of milk in the world, and there is plenty of opportunity here.
Food Retail: Organised food retail is expected to be the biggest driver. With food consumption growing in urban areas, food storage and transportation of vegetables, fruits, meat, poultry, and milk are expected to grow phenomenally.
Processed Food: With demand for processed foods increasing, this is a key segment for attention.
Fruits and Vegetables: Farmers are shifting to fruits and vegetable cultivation in a big way due to the uncertainties in grain cultivation. There is also a marked shift towards increased consumption of fruits and vegetables due to health concerns.
Healthcare Sector: Vaccines, for example, are heat sensitive and must be stored at temperatures ranging from 2OC – 8OC. With India’s vaccine, biopharmaceutical and clinical trials, market expected to grow in double digits, it is expected to be a major segment for the cold chain.
Where is the factory located?
We are located in Silvassa, Gujarat, which is famous as an industrial city, with facilities and infrastructure that can help us grow in this market.
Technology landscape and how Cruise is getting involved
Although Cruise is entering the market a little late, it is benefitting from the latest technology. It is technology that will shape this industry and there are 3 parts:
Variable speed inverter, which is more reliable and saves energy. While inverters have become a mainstream in the air-conditioning system, it is still in infancy in the refrigeration segment. The barrier has been the availability of reliable electronics (refrigeration applications are more severe as compared to AC applications), cost effective solutions, and knowledge of the service personnel to handle after sales.
Cloud-based remote monitoring, which is imperative to save energy for customers. Monitoring helps to closely track the storage condition of the perishable and other temperature critical products and being able to monitor it through sensing technology is a significant value addition.
Alternate environmentally friendly refrigerant, which helps us be relevant in contemporary times. The industry is moving away from R404A refrigerants and alternate refrigerants are the way to go for this industry.
What is the strength of Cruise?
Cruise is very adept at customisation, being close to customer needs. It will carry this important asset to the refrigeration market, making available a wide variety of condensing units to suit specific customer requirements.
How are you managing the change from B2C to B2B?
Whether B2B or B2C, our organisation culture is the same. We have trained our personnel in sales and service, with a view to assisting our B2B customers with the same customer focus, speed and agility that is our hallmark. We are also carrying through our ability to customise products to suit every customer need. What we will never compromise upon is our quality.
Our products are certified to the highest global quality standards.
What are your goals and vision for this market?
Cruise is committed to bringing the best quality to consumers and businesses globally through superior technology and engineering. While doing so, Cruise is very much an Indian company, committed to the Indian market, and led by Indian entrepreneurs. They are committed to the Prime Minister’s vision of Atma Nirbhar Bharat, bringing the best of technology and software to create a self-reliant India.
What are the challenges that you see in this market?
It is a highly fragmented industry and the SME sector accounts for an estimated 80-85 percent share of the total capacity. Quality of equipment is still getting established. Customers have to be educated about superior quality. Wholesalers and organised retailers are the key user segments of cold chain services, and they are widely spread in the market. Erratic power supplies, unavailability of skilled manpower, inefficient handling of perishables and availability of technology and financing options impact the industry adversely.
How do you see the future?
We are excited about the future. Atma Nirbhar Bharat has given the impetus and motivation for all of us to create and bring the latest technology at the most affordable cost to the value chain. Cruise is now poised to take the leap forward with multiple cold chain technology, that will further our market position and create an impact to the HVAC/R industry.
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Atma Nirbhar Bharat gave us an impetus to create and bring the latest technology at the most affordable cost to the value chain.
Rishabh Mishra, Director of Cruise Electrical Private Limited
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