Export possessing zones are industrial estates which form enclaves form the domestic tariff area. These are usually situated near sea ports or air ports. They are intended to provide and internationally competitive duty-free environment for export production at low cost.
Today, there are seven export processing zones in the country. They are:
1. Kandla Export Processing Zone at Kandla in Gujarat.
2. Santa Cruz Electronic Export Processing Zone at Santa Cruz in Mumbai.
3. Noida Export Processing Zone at Noida in Uttar Pradesh.
4. Madras Export Processing Zone at Chennai in Tamil Nadu.
5. Cochin Export Processing Zone at Kochi in Kerala.
6. Falta Export Processing Zone at Falta in West Bengal.
7. Vishakhapatnam Export processing Zone at Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
In the export processing zones, raw materials, intermediate products, equipments and machinery are allowed to be imported without payment of customs duty. The products of the units located in these zones are generally exported.
It may be noted that recently the export processing zones have been converted into special economic zones which are more advanced from of export processing zones.