Pawanexh Kohli is the founding Chief Executive of India's

National Centre for Cold-chain Development The National Centre for Cold-chain Development (NCCD) is an autonomous think tank body established by the Government of India with an agenda to positively impact and promote the development of the cold-chain sector in the country. NCCD was regis ...

(NCCD), the premier think-tank in agri-logistics set up in public-private-partnership mode in 2012, and from 2012 to 2020 was the Chief Advisor to Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare.

Early life

Born to an

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

officer, he accompanied his parents with their postings at various Indian cities. As a consequence, his education was cross cultural and spread across various regions in India and the schools he studied in include Frank Anthony School in Agra, Bishops School in Pune, Jesus and Mary School in

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...

before completing his high schooling from The Air Force School in New Delhi. He subsequently completed his professional education from LBS College of Advanced Maritime Studies and Research as a certified Master Mariner, having earlier completed his professional training at the TS Rajendra.

Career

In 1982, Kohli commenced his career as a mariner and was later master of oceangoing ships for the final 15 years. Amongst others, he was the master and

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of one of the world's largest refrigerated cross-ocean carriers ( reefer ships). Besides refrigerated transportation, he also directed or operated car carriers,

oil tankers An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined crud ...

, container ships, ice-class

general cargo In shipping, break-bulk, breakbulk, or break bulk cargo, also called general cargo, refers to goods that are stowed on board ship in individually counted units. Traditionally, the large numbers of items are recorded on distinct bills of lading ...

carriers, timber carriers and others. Between 2008 and 2012 Capt. Kohli contributed through professional executive roles as the prime mover in one of the largest logistics and distribution companies in India and later for the integration of the largest logistics & supply chain infrastructure enterprises, heading the development of solutions to drive a pan-national footprint of India's first set of Free Trade Zones. In 2012 he was selected by the Government of India to help incubate the

(NCCD) as its Chief Advisor. Shortly thereafter, the body was restructured and in 2014, he was selected as its founding Chief Executive Officer. He was then also accorded entitlements equivalent to those of Joint Secretary in Government of India. Concurrently, he continued to serve as the Chief Advisor to the Agriculture Ministry to guide initiatives related to post harvest management and agricultural supply chain. At NCCD, Kohli had key involvement in establishing a historic MoU of cooperation in cold chain between nodal Indian and French organisations. He was guest of honor and represented India at the International Conference on Sustainable Cold Chain in Paris (April 2013). In July 2015 he was invited as a global expert to speak on the Global Food Crisis at the House of Lords in UK. Kohli is a member councilor of various national committees and advisor to industry organisations and is

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the national Committee on Supply chain and Logistics, the first such committee set up with a focus on the supply chain by the government. He also co-chairs the committees on Human Resource Development and Research & Development for cold chain. He is a principal member of the Indian government's Committee for Doubling Farmers' Income, set up in 2016 and has authored & co-authored a number of policy documents. Role as a

thought leader A thought leader has been described as an individual or firm recognized as an authority in a specific field and also as business jargon. Meanings Go-to expert From the perspective of a thought leader as the 'go-to expert', being a thought leader ...

is also acknowledged in various other Task Forces and Committees on agricultural marketing and logistics. In 2018, the University of Birmingham conferred Kohli the title of Honorary Professor. After leading NCCD for eight years, on 31 January 2020, Kohli resigned from the position of CEO of NCCD and as Chief Advisor to Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare of India.

Honors and awards

In December 2010 he was acknowledged in his individual capacity, as the "Cold Chain Personality of the Year" by an expert panel hosted by KPMG-Supply Chain Leadership Council. The award was in appreciation for individual contributions to the industry and for aligning focus on the socio-economic fabric in India. In 2012 he was applauded with the " Exemplary Thought Leadership Award" by the ICE Centre of Excellence in India. In 2014 he won the prestigious Agribusiness Leadership Award at the annual Agriculture Leadership Summit in New Delhi. In 2016, ISHRAE lauded him as honorary lifetime member, their first ever. He is expert member of the Empowered Committee in the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy for implementation of Montreal Protocol and on the Global Advisory Committee of the

International Solar Alliance The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is an alliance of 123 signatory countries, most being sunshine countries, which lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. The primary objective of the allia ...

(ISA) In India, he is recognised as one among the few eminent persons from the private sector who have shifted over to public service by taking on specialist advisory roles in government organisations. He is recipient of various recognition and achievement awards from the cold chain industry in India.

References

External links

Cold Chain Can Empower Producers

Faster movement of refrigerated vans on anvil
(Business Standard News Article)
Cold Chain in India
Asian Food Regulation Information Service

(Article on Cold chain)
India perishables supply chain "failing"
(October 2012 at Cool Logistics Global)
'RVC to help in removing bottlenecks to curb perishable goods prices'

Newswire Release

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20131006233831/http://www.energycentre.in/about.html Energy Centre - RGREP of HAREDA
Supply gap high in refrigerated vans, pack houses: NCCD

Government launches toll free number for perishable food transporters

Nabard, NCCD to streamline cold chain infra development

Effective Cold chains help Productivity

Refrigerated transport: Balyan for farm-to-fork connectivity

* ttp://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=126641 In Future, Development Focus Needs to be More on Modern Pack-Houses and Refrigerated Transport
NCCD report highlights missing links in agri-logistics

Community Cooling Concept by Pawanexh Kohli

Post-COVID 19: Don’t go back to old ways, says ex-CEO NCCD

* ttps://www.eco-business.com/opinion/prepare-now-to-sustainably-deliver-the-covid-19-vaccine/ Prepare now to sustainably deliver the Covid-19 vaccine {{DEFAULTSORT:Kohli, Pawanexh 1963 births Living people People in agriculture Indian business theorists Development specialists Sea captains Scholars from Ludhiana 20th-century Indian economists Indian agricultural economists