Will review Cos Act, SEZ and FTA laws: Commerce minister

Union Budget will be inspiring and will give a message for sentiments to be revive, says Minister

Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Seetharaman said the government would review the Companies Act and rules related to special economic zones (SEZs) and free trade agreements. This is being done to regain investors’ confidence.

Seetharaman said a “major” consultation meeting with all stakeholders has been scheduled for the next Saturday to discuss the Companies Act.

“The Act posed a lot of difficulties and there are areas, which are affecting the stakeholders. All these will be discussed and necessary actions will be taken,” she said.

On SEZs, the minister said her ministry wanted to know the constraints in the law. “Instructions were given to the department officials to get into this,” she said. According to her, all laws, policies and tax-related issues with regards to SEZs would be reviewed.

On FTAs, she said a complete analysis would be done and, in the next 15 days, officials from the ministry would give a report.

“FTAs, which were signed by India with various countries, were not leveraged in some cases,” said the minister.

“All these do not mean we are going back on the decisions of the previous government.” She said these steps were being done to promote more investment and create jobs.

Sitharaman said she would be meeting salt producers in Tamil Nadu to increase the salt production in the state.

She said she would also discuss on the possibilities of setting up food processing units in the state so that value-added products could be manufactured in Tamil Nadu.

Budget 2014 will be inspiring

Speaking about the upcoming Budget 2014 expectations, she said it will be 'very inspiring' budget and it will give a message for sentiments to be revive. "A budget that will send the right signals and for growth and business to improve and an energetic budget," she said.