Despite West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s known opposition to the concept of special economic zones (SEZs), industries are applying for SEZs in the state.
About 47 requests for SEZ status have been sent to the state government, according to a report by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham). This comes at a time when projects by information and technology (IT) majors like Infosys and Wipro have been hanging in balance due to the state government’s policy of not granting SEZ status.
According to the report, “West Bengal -- Unfolding Growth Strategy,” the state has received as many as 47 requests till February 2012 — of which 11 are notified, 22 are formal and 14 are in-principle requests.
At present functional SEZs in the state include the Falta SEZ, which is a multi-product zone; Manikanchan, dealing with gems and jewellery; the Wipro SEZ at Saltlake, for dealing with IT/IT-enabled services (ITes); the Dalmiya SEZ; and an SEZ Bantala, dealing with IT/ITes) and UnitechHightech at Rajarhat(dealing with IT/ITes).
“More requests for setting up SEZs are coming to the state, mostly from sectors like IT, hardware and software electronics, and engineering,” the report said.
Earlier, the Trinamool Congress supremo had even said that the state could not give SEZ status to Infosys and not give it to others, when the state had taken a policy of not to go ahead with SEZs. “We cannot discriminate against the law,” she had said. Though the state offered to grant an alternative software technology park (STP) status, it failed to generate interest among IT players.
Those who get SEZ status will get tax exemption of 100 per cent for the first five years, and then 50 per cent for next five. Moreover, they would enjoysmany other favours like exemption from licence for import, customs duty, and excise duty on capital goods and raw materials.