When Indicold encountered automation

“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.”

Earlier, in 2024, Indicold commissioned a warehouse in Dholasan, Gujarat, with 7,500+ pallet capacity, which he claims is India's first fully automated high-bay frozen ASRS facility. Meanwhile, Jalan also claims that the Detroj facility was India's first and the world's 29th (a calculated guess) deployment of a Four-Way Shuttle ASRS system in the frozen segment.

In fact, Jalan calls the Four-Way Shuttle implementation in Detroj "mind-bogglingly revolutionary."

"This, combined with AI, is what future automated buildings will look like. This setup is likely to remain for the next 15 years—unless we see flying shuttles or some form of anti-gravity technology.”

“But for now, this is the future, and it will stay for many years to come."

These automated solutions enable 24x7 reliability, enhance worker safety through minimal human presence in sub-zero zones, and improve food safety by reducing contamination risks.

He also noted that automation ensures precise handling, better inventory rotation, lower wastage, and cost savings through efficient space use and reduced energy and labour needs.

However, Jalan points out that automation for Indicold has been a discovery by chance and not by design.

In 2023, Indicold planned to build a conventional double-deep pallet storage facility in Dholasan for one of their clients. After identifying and finalising a piece of land, they faced aggressive pricing changes by local landowners. This forced them to purchase a plot within an industrial park.

The new plot, however, was limited to just two and a half acres, which made it unfeasible to build the originally planned double-deep pallet facility. To meet their storage target of 7,000 to 8,000 pallet positions, they explored automation.

“So when a problem presented itself, automation was the way to get out of that situation and still get that capacity in that small piece of land.”

He plans to leverage their expertise in automated warehousing to design new facilities.

"We have pioneered automated warehousing in India. This has equipped us with a unique skill set and knowledge. Since we operate these facilities, we also have the experience of understanding what to avoid. This gives us a competitive edge when designing any new facility, ensuring it meets the needs of Indian consumers with the right mix of automation and traditional warehousing.”

In fact, Jalan is preparing to roll out a new, improved design for a 45,000-pallet facility across five to six locations in India.

But automation comes with its own challenges. Jalan pointed out that the workforce and customers are so used to the ordinary warehouses that he has to constantly engage with them to build pallets the correct way for the machines.

“The automation system is ruthless. If the pallet is not correct, it will not go in correctly, it will not come out correctly.”

A pallet is essentially a cuboid — about 1200 [mm] in height. The material should fit within this space. It cannot stick out, because if it does, it will hit something.

“One of the biggest challenges we have faced is giving them — and their on-ground teams — the confidence that they can build straight pallets and send them properly. It’s been a true challenge.”

Building the pallets the wrong way also points to the next challenge in warehouse automation: manual intervention. While taking his clients and guests through a guided tour inside the new Detroj facility, Jalan was emphatic about the importance of minimising human intervention in warehouse operations to ensure smoother material flow.

"Problems start wherever there is human intervention in the path of material movement.”

“Human intervention usually happens because of issues like incorrect pallets or system errors that require manual tweaking. But if your pallet and system are correct, there’s no need for manual engagement."

While automation is where Jalan has built his expertise, that is not his primary focus. He plans to position the company as an environment-controlled logistics firm, focusing on the cold chain while remaining open to other specialised storage needs.

"I want to focus on giving solutions to my customers. If that solution demands automation, we will do automation. While our main focus is cold chain, we are open to working in dry storage as well."

In fact, Jalan describes Indicold as an environment-controlled logistics firm. For him, environmental control can mean temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, oxygen, or even carbon monoxide levels.

“Whether it’s battery storage, chemical storage, or anything that requires controlling environmental factors, that’s the space we want to be in."

Jalan emphasises that the food industry is crucial for their business model. He believes food logistics will pay for and sustain the company, whereas other sectors are relatively small and not economically significant. The quick commerce segment, in particular, is seen as a high-growth area.

“Cold chain remains our bread and butter, but we are open to opportunities beyond it.”

Jalan is now planning to accelerate Indicold's growth by partnering with high-net-worth (HNI) individual investors to expand cold chain facilities through long-term leases. Earlier in March 2024, Fundalogical Ventures invested in the pre-series A round of Indicold.

He is now looking for patient investors who can support long-term innovation.

"Supply chain and cold chain is not a rocket—you need to come with patient capital and give us the time and freedom to innovate and do all the crazy stuff we are working on right now."