BS reported that the extent of slowdown could very well be seen in the number of job loss that has occurred in the special economic zones across the country. According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, over 30,000 people working in the SEZs have lost their jobs in the past 1 year.
Mr R Gopalan additional secretary to the ministry of commerce and industry during an SEZ Council Meeting held by ASSOCHAM said that "There are around 300,000 people working in the SEZs across the country. Of these, 10% to 15% have lost their job due to slowdown over the past one year."
In order to salvage these jobs, the ministry is now mulling over offering several benefits to SEZ units including relaxation of certain duties on selling products in the domestic markets. Mr Gopalan said that "Although things are still at a discussions stage, we are thinking about offering certain benefits like allowing SEZ units to sell their products in domestic markets without much levies. This is being done in order to sustain employment in the SEZs. However, these measures, if implemented, will be for a short period of time."
In spite of the slowdown, the India government is expecting SEZs to yield INR 150,000 crore worth revenue over the next 3 years. While so far SEZs have witnessed investments of INR 90,000 crore, Mr Gopalan added that another INR 40,000 crore to INR 50,000 crore worth investments is expected by the end of the financial year. As against an estimated exports of INR 120,000 crore for the financial year 2008-09, the government is now expecting about INR 100,000 crore of exports from SEZs. For the fiscal 2007-08, the country saw exports worth INR 66,000 crore from SEZs.
Mr Gopalan said about Gujarat that while functional SEZs in the state form only 10% of the country's, in terms of exports it forms around 30%.
Sourced : Business Standard