About SELCO Foundation
SELCO Foundation is an open-source, not-for-profit organization established in 2010 by Dr. Harish Hande, an IIT Kharagpur alumnus and Ramon Magsaysay Award recipient. The foundation works at the intersection of sustainable energy and poverty alleviation, deploying clean energy solutions to improve livelihoods, healthcare, and education for underserved communities across India. SELCO follows an ecosystem approach – innovating on technology, financial, and ownership models to catalyse both demand and supply for sustainable energy solutions.
Background
Post-harvest losses remain a persistent challenge in Indian agriculture, with Indian farmers incurring losses of approximately ₹92,651 crore per year. Small and marginal farmers engaged in agriculture and allied sectors are particularly affected. Decentralised cold storage solutions offer a critical intervention point – enabling improved storage, better price realisation, and market access while reducing distress sales. SELCO Foundation has supported the deployment of 133 cold storage units across multiple states, working with farmer groups, FPOs, SHGs, NGOs, and government institutions.
About this ToR
SELCO Foundation invites proposals from research agencies to undertake a comprehensive evaluation of its decentralised cold storage interventions across India.
Timeline: 4 months
Study Coverage: 133 decentralised cold storage units across diverse agro-climatic, commodity, and institutional contexts. Field data collection for 113 sites will be undertaken by the selected agency across Jharkhand, Odisha, Meghalaya, Telangana, Maharashtra, and Karnataka. For the remaining 20 sites, SELCO Foundation will collect data using tools finalized with the agency.
Key Objectives:
• Assess functionality, utilisation, and performance of cold storage units
• Understand end-user pathways – identification, onboarding, ownership, and operations
• Examine how ecosystem components affect outcomes
• Assess the role of financing mechanisms, subsidies, grants, and hybrid models
• Identify enabling and constraining factors across geographies and value chains
• Generate actionable insights for strategy and replication