Montek not in favour of additional incentives to SEZs
Ahluwalia's comments follow the Prime Minister's caveat to states on excessive sops for projects in SEZs.
By PTI |
MUMBAI: Batting for the Reserve Bank of India and the finance ministry, the Planning Commission on Friday said concessions to special economic zones (SEZs) should be at par with those provided to infrastructure projects.
"SEZs should be given treatment similar to any other infrastructure project and there should be no concessional finance," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told reporters on the sidelines of a Sebi function.
Supporting the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) -- which recently directed banks to treat lendings to SEZs at par with those to real estate, rendering advances to these zones expensive -- Ahluwalia said he was not in favour of concessional benefits and additional incentives to SEZs.
The commerce and finance ministries have been at loggerheads over the mushrooming of SEZs, which North Block felt could lead to a revenue rip-off as many of them were being set up to take advantage of tax benefits.
SEZs involve a lot of construction for real estate development and should be given treatment similar to any other infrastructure project, Ahluwalia asserted.
Ahluwalia's comments follow the Prime Minister's caveat to states on excessive sops for projects in SEZs.
Commerce Minister Kamal Nath has sought the Prime Minister's intervention against a RBI directive to banks to treat SEZs at par with real estate projects for lending purposes.
Kamal Nath earlier termed the apex bank's decision "inconsistent" as its annual report had praised the SEZ policy.
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