Four SEZ developers have sought approval from the government for partial cancellation of their respective special economic zones (SEZs). A decision on these requests will be taken by an inter-ministerial Board of Approval (BoA) in its next meeting on May 9.Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal leads the board. SEZs are treated as foreign entities for customs duty purposes. As separate enclosures, they are regarded as foreign territories for trade and customs duties, with restrictions on duty-free sales in the domestic market.
Exports from SEZs grew by over 8% to $143.34 billion during April-January 2024-25. SEZs contributed over one-third of India’s total outbound shipments in the last financial year. A total of 416 SEZs have been approved by the government, of which 276 were operational as of March 18 this year, and 6,279 units were approved till March 31.
Tata Steel SEZ Ltd (formerly Gopalpur SEZ Ltd) has requested partial de-notification of 282.73 hectares out of 588.65 hectares of their multi-product SEZ in Gopalpur, Odisha. The Development Commissioner of the jurisdictional Falta SEZ has also recommended Tata’s proposal, with investments already coming into the domestic tariff area.Infosys Ltd IT SEZ has sought approval for partial de-notification of 20.23 hectares out of 52.64 hectares of its IT/ITES zone in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, as it has completed the Phase 1 milestone and is facing uncertainty in the development and completion of Phases 2 and 3.The company’s request stated it is contemplating optimising the allotted land to create a conducive IT ecosystem for other prospective companies, indicating its desire to surrender the portion of unutilised land.The other two companies aiming for a decrease in SEZ area are ELCOT Ltd, which has requested partial cancellation of 2.4 hectares out of 80.88 hectares of its IT/ITES zone in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, and SIPCOT (State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu).(Edited by : Ajay Vaishnav)
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