India has the potential to be a major food supplier to the rest of the world. There is no scarcity of food within the nation. Why then, do we have one of the largest populace of hungry people in the world? It’s unimaginable that nearly USD 7bn worth of food is wasted in India annually!

Aniket Pargaonkar answers the question of what one of our biggest problems is – not the non-availability, but the wastage of food every year. FDI in retail is likely to be implemented soon. The government is also planning to implement the food security bill, which would further demand storage and cold chain facilities in order to reduce the amount of food wastage. But will the government follow through?Shilpa Eguvanti goes on to tackle the primary reason for wastage of food – the dire lack of an integrated cold chain framework in India, particularly refrigerated transport. She explains the nascent stage of the cold chain industry in the country, and what needs to be done to develop it. [Shilpa has authored an industry report on the Indian cold chain industry]

While, on the other hand, Arun Jethmalani opines on whether the privatisation of public sector Indian banks will reduce the divergence in performance compared to the “new” private sector banks.

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