JOIN USGovernment clears 11 new SEZ proposals
These were cleared by the Board of Approval (BOA)—the single window agency for clearing SEZ projects—at its meeting chaired by Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar here.
Clearance of these SEZ projects, which has come after a gap of several months, assumes significance as the government approved fresh SEZ proposals despite the Direct Tax Code proposing to dilute tax benefits for the new SEZ projects.
Of the ten SEZ projects cleared by the government as many as six are in the IT sector. The five SEZ projects proposed to be set up in Karnataka include two by Wipro and one by Infosys.
The BOA cleared the proposal of the Wipro to set up a SEZ in IT and IT Enabled Services (ITES) sector at Kodathi Village near Varthur Hobli in Bangalore. Its other SEZ project— also in the IT sector—is proposed to be set up in Belagola Industrial Area near Mogarhalli village in Srirangapatna taluk falling in the Mandya district. The proposal of Infosys to set up a SEZ in IT sector at Sarjapur village and Billapur village under the Anekal taluk in Bangalore got the go ahead from the BOA. The Center also cleared the proposal of M/s.
Poornimadevi Tech Park Private Limited to set up a SEZ in the IT sector at Sulikere village in Bangalore South taluk. The proposal of M/s Gopalan E-Park to set up a SEZ in the Electronic Hardware and Software including Information Technology sector at Koorgalli in Mysore district got the approval from the BOA.
The other noteworthy SEZ projects cleared by the BOA include one in biotechnology sector another in aerospace and precision engineering sector. These two specific SEZs are proposed to be set up in Andhra Pradesh. The Center has so far accorded formal approvals to as many as 577 SEZ projects, out of which 363 have been notified.
So far a sum of over Rs 1,66,526 crore have been invested in the SEZs generating over 5.5 lakh jobs. During the financial year 2009-10, total exports of Rs. 2,20,711 crore has been made from SEZs.
The exports in the first quarter of financial year 2010-11, has been to the tune of Rs 58,685.46 crore registering a growth of 68 per cent over the exports of corresponding period of the previous fiscal.