Govt's nod to 6 new SEZ proposals; rejection of 3 approved

The government on Thursday approved six new proposals, including four from IT and ITeS sector, for setting up of Special Economic Zones (SEZs). The decision was taken by the Board of Approval (BoA) for SEZ, chaired by Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia, a Commerce Ministry official said. The proposals which got the approval include those of HCL IT City Lucknow, Loma IT Park Developer and North Mumbai International Commodity Township.

HCL IT City Lucknow and Loma IT Park Developer have proposed to set up IT/ITeS zones in Lucknow and Mumbai, respectively. Besides, North Mumbai International Commodity Township has proposed a free trade warehousing zone in Thane. The BoA has also approved the cancellation of three SEZ developers, including Emmar MGF Land and Hindustan Newsprint.

According to the agenda of the BoA meeting, Emmar MGF Land Ltd had secured a formal approval in June 2012 to set up an IT SEZ, but the developer has neither (put) any request for extension, nor any effort for development of the project seems to have been taken by them. Further, several developers have got more time to implement their respective projects, which are at different stages of implementation. As many as 22 had sought more time.

The developers that had requested for more time include Navi Mumbai SEZ Pvt, Shantha Biotechnics and Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu. Exports from these zones rose to Rs 4.94 lakh crore in 2013-14, from Rs 22,840 crore in 2005-06. So far, formal approval has come for 416 proposals, of which 330 SEZs have been notified.

As many as 36 such zones are operational in Tamil Nadu, followed by Karnataka, Telangana (26) and Maharashtra (25). The Commerce Ministry is taking steps to increase exports as the country's shipments in the last four financial years have been hovering around USD 300 billion. SEZs account for about 25 percent of the country's total exports.