“We have calculated the availability of vacant spaces in SEZs and along with the Export Promotion Council for
EOUs and SEZs (EPCES) we are planning to take up road shows in different parts of the country so that units are attracted,” said Rajeev Arora, joint secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry while inaugurating the ‘9th International
SEZ Convention,’ organised by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has asked the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) to conduct a study on various facets of SEZs, informed the senior official from commerce ministry.
“We have asked the ICRIER to examine various issues like what are the existing schemes which are there for export promotion and where does the SEZ scheme stand vis-à-vis those schemes, we’ve also asked them how does India’s FTAs (free trade agreements) with various countries is affecting the SEZ environment and we also want to know whether emergence of SEZs have lead to any kind of diversion of land by promoting lot of activity in the real estate sector,” said Arora.
“These are some of the things that we do at our own level to see to what extent we can tweak the policy to make it more suitable for developers and units simultaneously and to see how SEZs in India can continue to flourish and contribute extensively to India’s exports.”
He also said that commerce ministry has given clear directions to development managers in all SEZs to ensure more transparency in land allotment as the ministry had been receiving complaints about delay due to lack of transparency.
“The development commissioners have been told to have proper rules for disposal of land so that whenever they are allotting the land to somebody there is better transparency in that,” said Arora. “I’d like to ensure the industry that we will not in any way become an impediment to the development of SEZs or to those who are running the units there.”
Talking about the further scope for growth and development of SEZs across India, Arora said that agro processing, electronic hardware, defence and defence related industries are certain sunrise areas that would see more investment in the SEZs as the SEZ environment would be far more suitable and conducive for them.
Sharing certain statistics about the SEZs in India, Arora said 585 SEZs 61,000 hectare of land have been given formal approval by the government of India. Out of this, 41,000 hectare land is in 389 notified SEZs and about 16,000 hectare land is in the operational SEZs.
He further said that India exports goods worth about Rs 4.73 lakh crore from SEZs. About 33 per cent of our exports from SEZs is petroleum products due to Jamnagar refinery being a SEZ. Besides, 27 per cent of SEZ exports are in IT sector and as the IT and ITeS have been huge beneficiary of SEZ. While about 24 per cent is our manufacturing exports.
Source : indiablooms.com