The Warehousing Corporations (Supplementary) Act, 1965 was enacted to expand the scope of the Warehousing Corporations Act, 1962, which primarily focused on the storage of agricultural produce. Recognizing the need to include non-agricultural commodities under the warehousing framework, this supplementary legislation was introduced under Article 252(1) of the Indian Constitution, which allows Parliament to legislate on a state subject if two or more state legislatures pass resolutions requesting such a law.
Several states, including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and others (as listed in the Schedule), adopted this Act to enable Central and State Warehousing Corporations to store and manage a broader range of commodities. This move aimed to:
Enhance storage infrastructure for industrial and commercial goods.
Support trade and commerce by providing regulated warehousing for non-agricultural products.
Strengthen the warehousing sector by integrating it with India’s growing industrial economy.
The Act came into force on 27th November 1965, and its provisions were periodically updated to include additional states like Haryana, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, and Punjab (pre-reorganization).

The Warehousing Corporations (Supplementary) Act, 1965, was a strategic amendment that broadened the warehousing sector’s role beyond agriculture. By allowing notified commodities to be stored in government-run warehouses, it modernized India’s storage infrastructure and supported industrial growth. Its state-driven adoption mechanism under Article 252(1) ensured cooperative federalism while maintaining regulatory uniformity.