Commerce ministry is new master

With the promulgation of the SEZ ordinance, the commerce ministry is set to be incharge of framing all policies — including the fiscal policy, investment policy and legislative framework of the SEZs — besides regulating the development, operation and maintenance of the SEZs.
This means that the revenue department will virtually have no say in the fiscal policy incentives for the SEZs in future. The fiscal concessions available to SEZs would then flow from the new law rather than the customs, excise and income-tax laws as is the case now.