Kamarajar Port to set up free trade and warehousing zone

The Kamarajar Port Ltd (KPL) on 28 October 2014 announced to set up a Free Trade and Warehousing Zone (FTWZ) on 100 acres, adjacent to its premises. Kamarajar port will became the first port on the eastern coast to set up FTWZ.

KPL recently acquired 650 acres from the Salt department to take care of its future needs. As a first step, 100 acres had been set apart for this purpose that would entail an approximate investment of 200 crore rupees.

Initially, the officials were toying with the idea of setting up Special Economic Zone. But latter decided to host FTWZ considering the innumerable advantages it provided to the trade such as warehousing facilities for different products/categories, shared warehousing of international standards, reduction in custom clearance time and better logistics facilities, among others.

About free trade and warehousing zone
FTWZ (Free Trade and Warehousing Zones) is a policy of the Government of India (GoI). It was announced in the Foreign Trade Policy 2004-09 to set up FTWZ to create trade related infrastructure to facilitate the import and export of goods and services with freedom to carry out trade transactions in free currency.

FTWZ is a sanitized zone designated as foreign territory for carrying on business. It would be a key link in logistics and global supply chains, servicing both India and the globe.