Godrej & Boyce to increase its cold chain portfolio in healthcare

Godrej Group flagship, Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company is betting big on growing its healthcare cold chain portfolio considering the last-mile connectivity in cold storage vaccines are a key link for immunisation drive against Covid.

Using Godrej’s ultra-low temperature freezers, the company plans to partner with the government, NGOs and private bodies’ to strengthen the last mile Covid vaccine cold chain. The freezers are meant to preserve life-saving medicine supplies, critical vaccines below minus 80 degree Celsius. The company believes in its wide network of service centres (680 across India) extending to hinterlands as well. 

Jamshyd Godrej, CMD, Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company said “if India were to use its entire private sector to team up on healthcare and delivery systems through the cold chain and logistics network, it will be easier to quickly get the vaccine to 70 per cent  of the population. Their expectation is that in the month or so, the immunisation drive should open up to the private sector as well.”

The current size of commercial healthcare refrigerator market is around Rs 2,000 crores. It is expected to increase beyond the Covid needs, as there is growing demand and need for cooling in healthcare at blood banks, eye banks, organ storage, pharma cold chains and stem cells. The current capacity for Godrej’s low temperature refrigerator is 12,000 units per annum, thus they plan to elevate those numbers. They will be increased to 30,000 units per annum to meet the growing global demand. The company also aims to grow up their portfolio by 30-40 per cent over three years, which can be expected to take their contribution to its turnover from current 5 per cent to 7 per cent.