India, the largest banana producing country in the world, is vying for a bigger share of the global market.
An ambitious plan has been drawn up by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) to export Indian-grown bananas globally to China, East Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
It is estimated that the annual trade could be worth $1.2bn (£750m).
The plan is to create a global brand for Tamil Nadu Bananas, along the lines of Florida Oranges and California Apples.
But as local production is unable to even meet domestic demand, questions are being raised about the prospects of the entire project.
The CII is confident that, with a gestation period of 18 months, its plan would succeed.
"If the post-harvest losses alone can be avoided then exporting 28 million tonnes of bananas would not be a problem," according to B Thiagarajan, chairman of the National Cold Chain Task Force at the CII.
Problems with post harvest losses is a common theme in India, which often fails to capitalise on its high production levels as a result.
The annual post-harvest loss in perishable fruits and vegetables is estimated to be around 80,000 crores of Indian rupees ($16.8bn; £10.4bn).
Even though the CII is confident, farmers in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the largest banana growing area in the country, are very sceptical about the entire plan and its chances of succeeding.
"We have a bitter experience in the case of exporting mango pulp to many countries and the CII never came to our rescue during that crisis," says Rama Gounder, secretary of the Tamil Nadu Agriculturalists Association.
"Due to the volatile political climate in the Middle east and the recession in the European and the US markets, tens of thousands of mango farmers suffered heavy losses over the last two years, but no support came our way."
Farmers insist that although they have improved productivity over the years, their socio-economic conditions remain the same.
"Indian farmers grow more, but farmers themselves have not grown" says Mr Gounder.
The initial plan of the CII, along with the NBRC, is to strengthen the post-harvest facility and to export fruit that in the past would have been thrown away.
But farmers are not convinced about the plan and say they should be involved in the hammering out of the cold chain infrastructure National Action Plan.
Economic analysts say that unless a strong bond between farmers and buyers is forged, the entire plan could collapse.
India's anticipated 8% growth in gross domestic product will not happen unless, and until, the agriculture sector is able to grow between 3-4 %, according to the CII.
Its studies show that without modernisation, the agriculture sector cannot achieve such growth.
