VSEZ beats corona blues to clock 17% growth in 1.5 months.

HYDERABAD: The Visakhapatnam Special Economic Zone (VSEZ), that includes the Information Technology zone of Hyderabad and the pharma SEZ in Vizag, managed to notch exports of Rs 8,287 crore for the April 1 to May 19, 2020, period despite the ongoing coronavirus crisis. 

This was a 17.4% growth as compared to the Rs 7,057 crore it clocked in the corresponding period of 2019-20. 

VSEZ is optimistic about achieving its Rs 1 lakh crore exports target in financial year 2020-21 and clocking a 10-12% growth over financial year 2019-20, if Covid-19 is controlled in the first quarter, said VSEZ Development Commissioner, A Rama Mohan Reddy, who is the zonal head for all the SEZs and export oriented units (EOUs) in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and the Union territory of Yanam. 

Explaining the reason for his optimism he said in the last two months, VSEZ exports from pharma and IT, which account for 85% of exports, were largely unaffected. 

“Lockdown 1.0 to 4.0 have had a tremendous impact on the economic performance of the country, especially production and exports from the industrial sector. But VSEZ has had 96% units operational, excluding those in the confinement zones, with strict compliance of standard operating procedures (SOPs) put in place by the Union ministry of home affairs.” 

“Despite nearly 60 days of lockdown, the SEZ units and EOUs in the zone have contributed to exports and are earning foreign exchange. As on date, as many as 585 of the total 702 units in the zone are operational. Of these, around 363 are on Work From Home,” he said. Prior to the lockdown, VSEZ had 510 units operational across over 58 SEZs and 192 EOUs in three states of AP, Telangana and Chhattisgarh. 

“As per the latest updates by customs officers, in SEZs only 21.32 % of the total staff are working in the units by observing social distancing norms. A total of 3,00,693 employees are working from home, especially in IT and ITeS units in SEZs and EOUs,” Reddy said. 

“We have also achieved growth in merchandise to the tune of 12.77%, apart from growth of 20.6% in the services sector. So far, Laurus labs of APSEZ, which falls in the zone, has exported 11.47 million tablets of HCQ to USA, South Africa, Singapore, Malawi and Belgium,” he said.