BoA to discuss 200 SEZ proposals at its next meeting

NEW DELHI: The board of approval (BoA) for special economic zones (SEZs) is preparing to meet within a fortnight to approve more proposals.

With the empowered group of ministers (eGOM) on SEZs removing the cap on the number of approvals, BoA will consider the 200 proposals in the pipeline and may also accept new proposals. Speaking to ET, official sources said while a final date for the BoA meeting has not been fixed, it will take place before September 10.

In its last meeting on August 8, BoA could approve just 46 new proposals as it was constrained by the cap of 150 imposed on the number of approvals by the eGOM. The eGOM has now empowered BoA to approve as many proposals as it deems fit.

However, eGOM will meet again to take stock of the situation after 75 SEZs become operational or after a gap of six months –– whichever is earlier. There are 28 operational SEZs now. Many big players like South Korean steel company Posco, Indonesia’s Salem group, The Chatterjee Group and Sterling are in the fray for getting approvals for their SEZ proposals.

Companies which managed to get through their proposals in the last BoA meeting include Essar Jamnagar (Gujarat), Infosys Technologies (Karnataka & Maharashtra), Wipro Limited (Maharashtra), HCL (Tamil Nadu & UP), Ansal Properties (Haryana) and Enfield exports (West Bengal). Commerce & industry minister Kamal Nath, who was leading the battle for removal of the SEZ cap, had received the strong backing of a number of states.