The Board of Approval for special economic zones, headed by the Commerce Secretary, Dr Rahul Khullar, is scheduled to meet on March 13 to discuss various issues, including those related to setting up new SEZs in the country.
“The 51st meeting of the BoA for SEZs shall be held on March 13,” the Commerce Ministry said.
In its last meeting on January 24, the BoA denotified SEZ of infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro’s IT/ITeS special economic zone proposed at Coimbatore.
The Board had also allowed the Videocon Group to pull out from its SEZ project at Jalpaiguri in West Bengal. The Videocon firm had approached the Board to withdraw its project at Jalpaiguri due to “latest business outlook” in the northern region of West Bengal.
Four new developers, including Tata Consultancy Services and Cochin Port Trust got the nod to set up new zones. Eleven developers, including that of Parsvnath SEZ Ltd got extension of time for execution of their projects.
Out of 381 notified zones in the country, only 148 have become operational. The maximum number of them is in sectors such as IT/ITES, engineering, electronics, hardware and textiles.
The Commerce Ministry has floated a discussion paper to revamp its SEZ policy.
Exports from SEZs increased 17 per cent year-on-year to Rs 2.60 lakh crore during April-December, 2011.