Cochin is a 1 million plus port city located in Kerala State in South West India.

Cochin is the nearest Indian Port (just 11 nautical miles!) to the Europe-Pacific Rim International Sea Route . Not surprisingly, for most of recorded history, Kerala had more international trading links than most other places in India . Her spices were treasured in far-off Rome and Egypt as well as in China . It brought her famed visitors. The Arabs came first in India to Kerala in 712 A.D. Vasco Da Gama came to Kerala in 1497 A.D.

Even today, all the economic powerhouses of Asia are closer to Cochin than to any other Indian city.

Called the Queen of the Arabian Sea since yore because of her geo-strategic locational position, Cochin is now being developed as a multi-modal logistics hub to capitalize on that advantage, and as a hub to service the South Asian market.

Cochin International Airport is the only airport in the private sector in India . It is well connected to West Asia, Singapore , and Colombo . Efforts are underway to develop this facility into a logistics hub. An aircraft maintenance facility and a refueling complex are also planned.

Cochin port’s container terminal currently handles under 200,000 TEUs a year. The Dubai Ports International is to invest in the Cochin Port to make it an international container transhipment terminal. This is sure to increase direct sailings to the major markets of the world.

The Indian State of Kerala is renowned for having attained a high Human Development Index comparable to US and West European levels. 91% of her 30 million people are literate. A highly developed social infrastructure in terms of housing, education, health care and transport services, telecommunication and entertainment facilities has sustained this for several decades now. What is unique about the State is that development is well spread out, and is not confined to towns.

Around 1.5 million Keralites have migrated to other countries, and send foreign remittances of around 100 million USD a year.  Another 1 million families are dependant on income of migrants to other States in India . Kerala’s society is thus well integrated into the global economy and its demands.

Around 8,000 engineers graduate from the various Universities and Engineering Colleges in the State every year. Kerala has the highest density of science and technology personnel in India . Kerala also has the highest number of skilled, productive manpower in India . Workers learn fast and procedures can be routinised quickly. 

CUSAT and STIC near the Zone collaborate with a number of units on R&D.

Cochin is the commercial and industrial capital of the State of Kerala . Cochin has a critical mass of industries like the 7.5 million tpa Kochi Refineries and the Cochin Shipyard. Cochin has a modern International Convention Centre, several star hotels and several sophisticated hospitals where complicated procedures like micro-surgery and open-heart surgery are routinely done. Cochin is a modern city with excellent social infrastructure and amenities like indoor and outdoor stadia, good, modern housing and shopping facilities.

A CII study “How Are The States Doing?” on the relative attractiveness of the Indian States as investment destinations, rates Kerala as among the top three in the country.

Data from a World Bank-CII study on “Competitiveness of Indian Manufacturing” shows that Kerala has the highest labour productivity among all Indian States, the lowest median cost for power among all Indian States, and the lowest delays for Customs clearances for imports and exports among all Indian States.

All these factors contribute to making Kerala a low cost setting. You can have skilled labour, already enjoying good housing, social health care and school facilities at wage rates much below those in India ’s metropolises.

And all this is placed amid one of the most beautiful locales in the world, God’s Own Country   to some, and one of the ‘fifty Millennium must-see spots’ of The National Geographic Traveller Magazine.