Lankan co mulls $700 million in Nellore textile SEZ

NEW DELHI: The Sri Lanka-based premium inner-wear manufacturer MAS Holdings has proposed investment of $700 million in a textile SEZ at Nellore in Andhra Pradesh. The SEZ is to be spread over 7,000 acres. The company has already purchased land directly from the owners and has applied for a formal approval from the board of approval (BoA) for SEZs.

Speaking to ET, commerce & industry ministry officials said that the proposal will be taken up by BoA next month and is likely to be cleared. “Since the company has already purchased the required land, the recent changes in the SEZ policy, restricting compulsory acquisition of land, do not apply to this case,” an official said.

MAS Holdings proposes to create 31,000 jobs within the SEZ and 40,000 jobs outside the SEZ. “It is expected that the company will be able to complete all required formalities in the next few months and start production in eighteen months,” the official said.

With the empowered group of ministers (eGoM) on SEZs lifting the freeze on fresh approvals in its meeting on Thursday, the BoA is now free to examine all proposals. There are 162 proposals, which had been given in-principle clearance, which will now be examined for formal approval.

About 15 proposals have got land and will not face any clearance hurdles. There are about 350 cases in the pipeline yet to be examined by the BoA. With the eGoM barring the government from acquiring land for private developers, the land acquisition process in certain cases may slow down.

However, officials say that if developers come out with a good offer, are sensitive to the local needs and have an open and flexible approach, problems can be resolved. “There are cases where developers have consulted local people to identify the land which will cause least disruption,” the official said.