SAIL’s Salem SEZ among 28 proposals cleared

New Delhi: Public sector steel major SAIL’s Salem SEZ in Tamil Nadu and farmers cooperative IFFCO’s multi-product SEZ in Andhra Pradesh were among the 28 proposals cleared by the Board of Approval for Special Economic Zones (SEZs) at its meeting held here on Wednesday.

The Commerce Secretary, Mr Gopal K. Pillai, who is also the Chairman, BoA, has said that so far formal approvals have been granted for setting up 404 SEZs out of which 187 have been notified as on date. He said that over Rs 52,193 crore had been invested in these notified SEZs that provide direct employment to over 59,356 persons.

While as many as 44 proposals for setting up SEZs, including seven proposals for converting in-principle approvals to formal approvals, were considered, the BoA recommended grant of 24 formal approvals and four in-principle approvals.

The meeting gave 19 formal approvals, five cases for conversion from in-principle approval to formal, and another 4 for in-principle approval.

Approval list

Important formal approvals include Electronic Hardware SEZ in Tamil Nadu by Best & Crompton Engineering Ltd, IT/ITeS (IT enabled services) SEZ in Uttar Pradesh by Unitech Hi-tech Projects Pvt Ltd, and another two such IT/ITeS SEZs by Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Corporation Ltd, and Multi-Services SEZ in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh by Gwalior Agricultural Company.

Among the SEZs that got a nod for conversion of in-principle approval to formal approvals include Pharma SEZ in Andhra Pradesh by Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd and two sector-specific SEZs for engineering and pharma and fine chemicals in Gujarat by Dishman Infrastructure Ltd.

Prominent among the in-principle approvals include two approvals each for Vibrant ILFS Consortium and Vibrant Realtors Pvt Ltd in Maharashtra for FTWZ (Free Trade Warehousing Zone) and Multi-Services SEZs respectively.