Even as Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) worries cloud future prospects of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the country, SEZs in Gujarat have clocked impressive growth in exports in the just concluded financial year. Figures provided by the Development Commissioner’s office, Kandla SEZ, show that exports from SEZs in Gujarat went up by a whopping 43% in 2010-11 as compared to the previous year.
Also, SEZs in the state have achieved more than 50% of the total exports from all SEZs in the country. While the total
SEZ exports from the country stood at Rs3 lakh crore, Gujarat SEZs exported Rs1,61,087 crore in 2010-11.
“The total exports from the 13 operational SEZs in the state
increased from Rs1,12,591 crore in 2009-10 to Rs1,61,087 crore in 2010-11, an increase of more than 43%,” said an official.
The Reliance SEZ (refinery) in Jamnagar achieved physical exports of Rs1.03 lakh crore during the year, an impressive growth of 46% as compared with exports worth Rs70,802 crore in the previous year. The Reliance SEZ also had deemed exports of Rs14,069 crore during the year.
The Special Economic Zone in Surat, the country’s first SEZ in the private sector, recorded exports of Rs38,156 crore during the year as against Rs23,981 crore in the previous year.
The Kandla SEZ, the oldest SEZ in the state, recorded physical exports of Rs2,628 crore and deemed exports of Rs43.78 crore in 2010-11.
The exports from Dahej SEZ, being developed jointly by GIDC and ONGC, increased almost five times from Rs83.57 crore to Rs399.14 crore.
The sharp rise in exports from SEZs in the state is mainly because of the impressive performance of Reliance SEZ. But even other SEZs have recorded impressive growth in exports," said a senior official of the industries department. Zydus Infrastructure's pharma SEZ in Ahmedabad achieved exports of Rs280.55 crore compared with Rs242.63 crore in 2009-10 and Adani Group's Mundra Port & SEZ Limited achieved physical and service exports of Rs1,518 crore during the year. The total exports from SEZs in the country in 2010-11 are estimated at around Rs3 lakh crore, which means that SEZs in Gujarat accounted for more than 50% of the exports from SEZs. Officials said that exports from SEZs in the state are likely to go further up in the coming years as more units get commissioned. They pointed out that many developers had evinced interest in setting up SEZs in the state.
However, officials conceded that imposition of 18.5% MAT on units in SEZs by the Centre could affect their future growth. They added that many companies could decide against investing in SEZs in view of withdrawal of exemption from MAT.
Source : dnaindia.com