2025-10-07

Cold Chain Technologies (CCT) is expanding its footprint in Asia through a series of strategic investments and collaborations. In India, the company has rebranded its regional operations as CCT India and is setting up a new manufacturing facility in Mumbai. In this exclusive interview, Amardeep S. Chahal, Senior Vice President – Global Marketing, Strategy & Corporate Development at CCT, shares insights into the company’s operations and the challenges of managing cold chain logistics in India. 

Q. What prompted Cold Chain Technologies to expand its presence in the Asia-Pacific region?

CCT’s expansion in the Asia Pacific region is driven by its commitment to support pharmaceutical, airline and third-party logistics (3PL) customers with temperature-controlled logistics. With APAC continuing to be a growing region for pharma manufacturing and exports, its prominence in the global pharma market cannot be overlooked. Most of CCT’s customers are global and they want to partner with companies they know and solutions they trust. The acquisitions of Tower Cold Chain and GCCS (now CCT Australia and CCT India), which already had strong reputations and presence in APAC, created a foundation for leveraging global expertise and local capabilities to ensure fast and reliable access to CCT’s range of passive parcel and pallet shippers.

Q. What differentiates your India operations from those in other APAC markets?

Unlike in some other APAC markets where CCT primarily works with distributors, CCT India has multiple manufacturing sites in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Hyderabad. This combines local production and service capabilities with a knowledgeable and customer-oriented team that can support the needs of pharma cold chain logistic companies in India. This allows CCT to provide more localised solutions and faster delivery, tailored to the growing Indian life sciences and healthcare sector.

Q. Could you tell us more about the new manufacturing site in Mumbai - its scale, capacity, and expected impact on operations?   

The Mumbai site is a strategic investment aimed at strengthening CCT’s manufacturing footprint in India. The site is expected to enhance production of our growing parcel and pallet portfolio locally, reduce lead times, and better support regional distribution. This will enable faster deployment of our global solutions to Indian healthcare and life sciences companies.

Q. What kinds of investments is CCT making in India, and how will these support local healthcare and life sciences companies?

India’s pharmaceutical market for FY 2023-24 was valued at USD 50 billion, with domestic consumption at USD 23.5 billion and exports at USD 26.5 billion. Ranked third globally by volume and 14th by value, the industry spans generics, bulk drugs, OTC medicines, vaccines, biosimilars, and biologics, giving it a strong global presence. To support this growing demand, CCT’s new manufacturing site in Mumbai, coupled with the rebranding of our regional operations as CCT India, enables faster production and distribution of temperature-controlled packaging. These investments help reduce lead times, meet regulatory standards, and ensure critical medicines reach healthcare and life sciences companies safely and efficiently.

Q. How are you tailoring your global portfolio of pallets, parcels, thermal covers, and digital solutions to meet the unique needs of Indian customers?  

CCT ensures its global portfolio is applicable to the Indian market by taking into account local climate conditions, transportation infrastructure, and regulatory requirements. Our ever-expanding range of parcels, pallets and thermal blankets covers the full spectrum of volumes and sizes to meet diverse market needs, from commercial bulk shipments to clinical trials, biologics, and last-mile delivery. This approach guarantees that temperature-sensitive products maintain their efficacy and safety throughout transit while providing flexible, scalable solutions for India’s rapidly growing healthcare and life sciences sector.

Q. What are the biggest challenges in managing cold chain logistics in India, and how does CCT plan to address these challenges? 

India’s cold chain logistics face extreme heat, challenging geography, and a reliance on road freight for over 70 percent of shipments, which, combined with fragmented infrastructure and evolving regulations, leads to nearly 20 percent of temperature-sensitive healthcare products arriving damaged or degraded. Rapid growth in pharmaceuticals, biologics, vaccines, and clinical trials has further increased demand on cold chain capacity, putting pressure on storage, transport, and last-mile delivery systems.

CCT addresses these challenges through a combination of digital monitoring solutions, robust temperature-controlled packaging, and an extensive portfolio of passive and reusable pallets and parcels designed for Indian conditions. CCT’s digital portal - CCT Smart Solutions - provides not just basic track and trace capabilities but a growing menu of alerts, notifications, and predictive analytics, ensuring that healthcare and life sciences companies can reliably maintain the integrity and efficacy of their products throughout India’s demanding cold chain network.

Q. How do you ensure sustainability while providing advanced thermal packaging solutions?

CCT is committed to sustainability through an extensive portfolio of reusable and single-use recyclable thermal packaging shippers, helping reduce environmental impact while maintaining advanced thermal protection. Through these solutions, customers can minimize CO? emissions, avoid landfill waste, and prevent unnecessary reshipments. Our 2025 landfill avoidance target of 100 million pounds (or 45 million kgs) was surpassed a year early, with over 11.5 million shipments completed using sustainable packaging solutions.

Tower Cold Chain, now part of CCT, has strengthened this commitment, earning the EcoVadis gold medal and expanding expertise in reusable temperature-controlled logistics. Combined with digital platforms for real-time monitoring and tools such as carbon calculators, CCT and Tower enable life sciences companies to deliver products safely, efficiently, and sustainably, while advancing environmentally responsible practices across the cold chain industry.

Q. How do you see cold chain requirements evolving in India in the near future?

Indeed, India’s cold chain requirements are poised for significant transformation as the pharmaceutical, biologics, and vaccine markets continue to grow rapidly. Increasing complexity in temperature-sensitive products, combined with rising domestic demand and global export opportunities, will drive the need for more robust, reliable, and flexible cold chain solutions. Advanced digital monitoring, real-time visibility, and scalable packaging solutions will become essential to maintain product integrity across diverse climates and long transit routes.

CCT is well-positioned to support this evolution, providing integrated solutions that combine technology, innovation, and expertise across India’s expanding life sciences and healthcare sectors.