No increase in lease rent of SEZ units for 2020-21: Govt

New Delhi: The government on Monday said the lease rent for units in the government-owned special economic zones (SEZs) will not be increased for 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a move which will provide relief to these facilities.

It also said that payment of lease rent for the first quarter is deferred up to July 31 for all SEZ units and the deferment would not invite any interest.

Department of commerce said there will be “no increase in lease rent of the SEZ units for 2020-21”.


The commerce and industry ministry said that after consulting the proposal with Department of Expenditure, these relief measures were decided for SEZ units on account of Covid-19 outbreak.

Further, it asked development commissioners of other SEZs to advise SEZ developers of state governments and privately-owned zones to consider similar relief measures.

There are seven government-owned SEZs in the country and are under the supervision of a development commissioner (DC).

“DCs are requested to advise developers of state government/private SEZs to consider similar relief measures in their zones,” it added.

Exports from SEZs rose 14.5% to Rs 3.82 lakh crore in April-September 2019-20. It was Rs 7.02 lakh crore in entire 2018-19 financial year.