NG realty's SEZ gets nod for denotification

Ahmedabad-based NG Realty Pvt Ltd has received a green signal from the board of approval (BoA) for special economic zone (SEZ), set up by the union ministry of commerce and industries, for denotification of its engineering SEZ at village Rajoda near Ahmedabad.

NG Realty had requested for denotification of its SEZ near Ahmedabad citing Minimum Alternate tax (MAT) and Dividend distribution tax (DDT) as primary reasons for denotification.

"We had applied for denotification of SEZ to Board of Approval (BoA) because of some changes in the SEZ policy and imposition of MAT (Minimum Alternative Tax) and Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT). With the imposition of these taxes, there were no benefits to the developers or the unit holders of the SEZ. The Government is backing out from its word of coming encouraging developers to set up SEZ . The MAT tax imposes 18.5 percent tax on the developer. We have converted the SEZ into an industrial park," said NG Patel.

In a recently held meeting the BoA approved NG Realty's request stating," The board has decided to approve the request of NG Realty Private Ltd for denotification of the sector specific SEZ for engineering notified over an area of 217 hectares."

The company had got the approval for the engineering SEZ in May 2007. The developer had made an initial investment of Rs 250 crores and had recently invested Rs 108 crores in 2010 for infrastructure upgradation. The total investment on the SEZ of the company was Rs 358 crores.