Warehousing is the term given to the varied process involved in the storage of the raw or finished products before shipping into the retail markets based on the supply and demand mechanism. In the today’s turbulent economies, both logistics and warehousing plays critical role in reducing the gap among the manufacturers and the consumers. India has 1.4 billion population and a mixed middle-income developing social market economy, and mostly the consumers depend mostly on food produce from the farms. The food produce is stored in state of the art warehouses spread across the metropolis vis a vis Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, and Pune. The food supply chain system in place in India is designed efficiently to reduce the wastage during the warehouse storage and transportation.
Source: https://www.marketresearch.com/Netscribes-India-Pvt-Ltd-v3676/Warehousing-India-32528958/

Models Adopted by Food Supply Chain and Warehousing in India

In the recent times the small time grocery stores are showing a phenomenal recovery in the business with high demand for the stockpiling. There has been a consumption growth revival of 1.9% and this has been driven by the grocers.
Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/cons-products/fmcg/small-grocery-stores-turn-big-sellers-again/articleshow/100169249.cms
Furthermore, in recent years with policy changes, global investors are significantly increasing their presence in the Indian subcontinent. Huge investments are underway in the warehousing and the logistics. The new policy frameworks allow global investors to buyseparate warehouses. In the changed scenario, businesses are gradually going through transmogrification and adopting to the omnichannel approach. 3 PL is further making the headway to drive more investments in the manufacturing, logistics and the warehousing.
Source: https://www.thehindu.com/real-estate/warehouses-goods-transport-industry-asset-class-investment/article65579311.ece

According to the Warehousing Express Logistics, a Gurugram based warehousing and Logistics Company– “With internationalization of the food industry, and highly perishable nature of grocery products, there is always the need for a well-planned warehousing and logistics.”

AWL India suggests that use of tech-based warehousing solutions has become important for delivery of the fresh food items across larger distances. With the incorporation of technology in the warehousing, transportation is smooth and efficient.

Logistics and warehousing in the food supply are indispensable for safety of the food products as well as meeting the overwhelmingly growing demand for superior quality products from the consumers. High end food chains are critical in food safety apart from tracing the originality of the products. The warehousing companies in India are adopting various kinds of models for efficiency of food supply chain. These include:

Fast-Chain Model – It is ideal for the companies that work on the products that have short life cycle and required to be consumed quickly within limited span of time.

Continuous flow Model – In the situations where there is high demand for the products in the market that are not changeable, then the continuous flow model becomes effective.

Efficient Model – When markets are highly competitive, efficient model becomes important in the food supply chain. This model is essential for maintaining overwhelmingly high standards.

Agile Model – Special food consumables require agile supply chain model that would also be in alignment to the warehousing needs.

Custom configured Model – This type of supply chain model is a fusion betweenagile and continuous flow models. The model is obligatory for meeting demands of the varied markets.

Flexible Model – The demands in consumer market may be huge and supply chains need to be flexible to meet these overgrown demands. The Flexible Model is welcoming in such conditions.

Source: https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/what-is-the-food-supply-chain/

Verdict:

Indian food industry is incorporating the advanced warehousing technology to keep the food items fresh as ever. The new age modern-day supply chain and warehousing operations are becoming streamlined, effective and this trend is also having an impact on the food supply chain in totality.