India is an agrarian country but the importance of warehousing was not felt till 1950. Agriculture contributes 16 percent of the overall GDP and accounts for employment of approximately 52 percent of the Indian population. It is estimated that more than 40 percent of our agricultural productions wasted due to poor storage facilities.
On the recommendation of the All India Rural Credit Survey Committee, the Agricultural Produce (Development and warehousing) Corporation Act enacted in 1956, authorised the Government to setup National Co-operative Development and Warehousing Board to develop agricultural Co-operatives and warehousing.

The drawbacks of warehousing are:
(i) There are no adequate transport facilities between the place of production and warehouses.
(ii) Lack of sufficient storage facilities for different commodities such as perishable and non-perishable commodities.
(iii) Complicated formalities are to be fulfilled at the warehouses. The illiterate and innocent farmers are not able to cope with these procedures.
(iv) Complicated process of Barcode technology can reduce the storing of goods by some producers.
(v) Unavoidable delay for obtaining financial assistance may cause loss to the owner of goods.

When goods are imported, customs duties have to be paid on them, otherwise these cannot be removed from the Docks. Goods stored in these warehouses are said to be in 'Bond'. So, the warehouses which are used for storing imported goods before payment of custom duties are called 'Bonded Warehouses'. If these warehouses are owned by the government then custom authorities have direct control over the warehouses. The owner of the goods are allowed to inspect, bottle, brand and blend the goods.

Co-operative warehouses are constructed in rural areas to help the farmers who cannot have their own storage facility. The interested people who would become of such societies form these for their own use. These warehouses help them to store various items like fertilisers, seeds, pesticides, paddy, etc., at cheap cost. Co-operative farms are also useful for fisheries, dairy farming, poultry, etc., Its efficiency depends upon the fall utilisation of space, good management loyalty of its members and resources.

Dock is a place in the harbour where the goods are loaded into the ship:
Dock warrant is a document of title to goods issued by dock authorities. This document certifies that the dock authorities hold the goods. To take delivery of the goods, this certificate should be given back to the authorities. The right of getting delivery of goods can be transferred to third parties too.