Govt to decide on more time to 17 SEZs tomorrow

The government will tomorrow decide on the requests of stainless steel producer Jindal Stainless and 16 other developers for more time to execute their SEZ projects.

These 17 developers want extension of the validity period of the formal approval of their projects by one year.

The Board of Approval (BoA) headed by Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar would also take up eight fresh proposals, including those of Larsen & Toubro and Delhi State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corporation, for setting up SEZs, a Commerce Ministry official said.

Indian Oil Corporation has also approached the BoA with a request for co-developing the port-based SEZ at Puthuvypeen, Kerala, with the Cochin Port Trust.

India's largest stainless steel producer Jindal Stainless has approached the government for extension of the validity period of formal approval beyond October 24, 2009, for sector-specific SEZ for stainless steel & ancillary/downstream industry at Kalinga Nagar in Orissa.

As of now the government has given formal approvals for 578 SEZs, of which 340 have been notified.

SEZs have provided employment to 4.18 lakh persons. Exports from SEZs during the first two quarters of the current fiscal are estimated at about Rs 89,750 crore.