Tamil Nadu to soon release a policy on warehousing

The Tamil Nadu government will soon release a policy on warehousing. Recognising the importance and potential of warehousing, the government felt that the sector had to be given a special focus with a separate policy, said Sandeep Nanduri, Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO). The State, in 2023, had released the Logistics Policy.

Addressing a session on State Logistics Policy organised jointly by The Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation, Nanduri said the State’s warehousing policy will have four focus areas. The thrust is on warehousing standards that will be aligned along with the recommendations of the Government of India Warehouse Standards. On institutional mechanisms, the policy would establish the role of the State government in promotion and investment support. Focus will also be given to streamline regulatory requirements and approvals, he said. This is the first meeting with stakeholders on the warehousing policy, he added.

With focus on the Delta districts, the policy will lay emphasis on the phase wise identification and potential districts for existing and future development and expansion of warehousing business. The policy will also focus on a commodity-based approach. This is to develop commodity specific standards and directives for future development of new warehousing clusters, he said.

Nanduri said the first phase of the Multimodal Logistics Park in Mappedu near Chennai Phase is expected to be operational by 2027. The second MMLP is coming up in Coimbatore for which the land equation is almost finished. “We are also forming a joint venture with the VO Chidambaranar Port in Thoothukudi for the project,” he said.

A recent report by Colliers India said that with about 2.2 million sq ft of leasing, engineering firms alone accounted for about one-fourth of the Grade A industrial and warehousing demand in Q1 2025. The sector saw over 2X times growth in leasing activity on an annual basis, led by robust demand in Chennai and Bengaluru.

The Tamil Nadu Integrated Logistics Plan —10-year strategy —announced in 2023 has estimated investment outlay of nearly ₹63,000 crore (excluding land cost). Nearly 50 interventions, including enabling integrated and robust logistics infrastructure development, have been identified in the plan.