BoA to consider 15 new SEZ proposals

New Delhi, Jun 4: As many as 15 new proposals of Special Economic Zones (SEZ) are slated to come up for consideration before the inter-ministerial meeting of board of approval (BoA) here today. These proposals include six by Deccan Infrastructure which wants to set up information technology and ITeS projects at six locations in Andhra Pradesh. If approved, Deccan's units will come up on about 114 hectares of land.

Of the total proposals, as many as 11 relate to IT and electronic hardware projects. These include one by Larsen and Toubro (L&T) which propose to set up an IT/ITeS unit on 14.88 hectares in Vadodara, Gujarat. The board is also to consider giving formal nod to SEZ proposals of Gremach Infrastructure Equipments and Projects, Maharashtra Industrial Development Co-operation (MIDC) and Essel Infraprojects, all in Maharashtra. These projects had earlier got in-principle approval of the BoA.

The government has so far given formal approval to 428 SEZs, of which 222 have been notified. Direct employment in the notified zones was 97,993 at March-end 2008.

Exports from the tax-free enclaves recorded a 92 per cent growth in 2007-08 and stood at Rs 66,638 crore.

UNI