New industrial policy on anvil: Nirmala Sitharaman

NEW DELHI: The process for formulation of a new industrial policy has been initiated and consultations are being held with stakeholders, Parliament was informed today.

Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said consultations are on with industry bodies, academia, think-tanks, state governments and concerned ministries and departments of the central government.

"Inputs are also being collected through a survey," she said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Replying to a separate question on special economic zones, she said during April-June this fiscal, exports from SEZs stood at Rs 1.38 lakh crore.

The minister also said that in case of lack of substantive progress in the project or on a request by the developer, the Board of Approval cancels the letter of approval for the SEZ.

So far letters of approval of 109 SEZs have been cancelled.

In another reply, she said the government has received proposals to set up spice parks from states including Gujarat, Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Karnataka and Assam.