Another 45 SEZs get govt clearance

NEW DELHI: The Board of Approval for Special Economic Zones (SEZs) approved 45 proposals including Genpact India’s IT SEZ in Bhopal, Essar's power SEZ in Gujarat, Orient Craft's textile SEZ in Gurgaon, Pondicherry SEZ Company’s multi-product SEZ in Pondicherry and Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation’s multi-product SEZ in Vishakapatnam.

However, the limit of 150 imposed on the number of new SEZs by the empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on SEZs has forced the BoA to put on hold scores of proposals. These include Moja Shoes’ application for an SEZ in Nellore and TCG Refineries’ application for a refinery SEZ in Haldia, West Bengal.

The BoA will now approach the EGoM seeking an expansion in the upper limit. The BoA recommendations will be sent to the commerce ministry for formal clearance on Wednesday. Speaking to ET, sources said that the board had a hard time in choosing 45 out of the 167 applications being considered.

The commerce ministry is hopeful that the GoM would agree to an expansion in the limit which would enable it to consider the proposals on hold. Chief ministers from Andhra Pradesh and Haryana have written to the Centre asking for a removal in the cap. Stressing on the economic activity which would be generated by SEZs, sources pointed out that four SEZs including the ones set up by Nokia and Flextronics would pump in $2bn of investments in this fiscal.

On rules, the BoA has decided to increase the minimum requirement for processing area for multi-product SEZs from 25% to 35%. However, the relaxation of 10% could be allowed on a case-to-case basis. For IT, bio-tech and gems & jewellery SEZs, the requirement for minimum built-up area has been reduced from 1 lakh square meters to 40,000 square meters. The BoA had approved 105 SEZs prior to Tuesday's meeting, of which 10 have been notified.

These include three IT SEZs by Wipro, a Reliance petroleum SEZ in Jamnagar, one pharma SEZ each by Divi's Lab and Serum Institute, a multi-product SEZ by Gujarat Adani, one electronics SEZ each by Flextronics and Chandigarh Administration and an IT SEZ by Tata Consultancy.