The Board of Approval under the Ministry of Commerce has given approval to only three fresh proposals for Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to be set up in India, considering the uncertain global economic conditions.
The three SEZs that received government nod included one from Videocon Industries too. The BOA also gave extensions to 24 developers including majors like GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd, Unitech Kochi
SEZ Ltd and K Raheja Corp.
Videocon Industries will be setting up a special economic zone (SEZ) for electronics hardware and software in Navi Mumbai on a landmass of over 100 hectares.
Considering the recession blues of 2008-09, which took a toll on investments in the SEZs and the renewal of interest in SEZs went missing due to Finance Ministry’s plans to do away with income tax exemptions on export incomes for new SEZ units as was prescribed under the draft Direct Tax Code of the Finance Ministry, the BOA decided to approve only three of the SEZs.
Besides, Videocon, Coastal Ferrotech Limited also got the approval to set up SEZ in Haldia East Mednipur and Infoparks Kerala in Ernakulam district.
In India, there are 580 approved SEZs, of which 111 are functional, having attracted investments worth Rs.1.5 lakh crore.
Source : Commodity Online