JOIN USThe Indian government is expected to come out soon with new norms to revive special economic zones (SEZs), which have lost sheen after imposition of certain levies and proposal to take away tax incentives.
“The commerce and finance secretaries are discussing all the issues relating with these zones...we have to attract investments,” Union Commerce & Industry Minister Anand Sharma said.
The government had imposed minimum alternative tax (MAT) and dividend distribution tax (DDT) on SEZs in 2010-11, which were earlier exempted from almost all levies.
The direct taxes codes (DTC) being considered by Parliament proposes to do away with the income tax exemption given to them and instead link tax sops to investments made in them. Profit-linked benefits were the main attraction of the SEZ scheme. According to sources, the government is considering to relax minimum land area requirement for different categories of SEZ, besides extending the benefits of export schemes to SEZ units, that are already available to entities outside the zone.