101 SEZs de-notified between April 2008 and Feb 2020: Govt

The Board of Approval on Special Economic Zones (SEZs) has approved 101 cases of de-notification between April 1, 2008 and February 29 this year, Parliament was informed on Friday.

These de-notification approvals are subject to the refund of all duties and tax benefits availed by the SEZ private developers and on receipt of no-objection from the concerned state governments, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

"Between 1st April, 2008 and 29th February, 2020, the board on SEZs on request of SEZ private developers, has approved 101 cases of de-notification of SEZs," he said.

The reasons given for these requests for de-notification include poor market response, lack of demand for space and change in the fiscal incentive regime for SEZs, he added.

In a separate reply, the minister said the outbreak of coronavirus and cancellation of two prestigious diamond exhibitions in Hong Kong are few of the key reasons for decline in exports of polished diamond and diamond jewellery.

In another reply, he said the virus outbreak in China has led to restrictions on movement of people and business activities in many provinces of the neighbouring country, which could affect domestic sectors as well.

"Disruption in business activities in China may have an impact on Indian industries such as pharmaceuticals, automobile and electronics industries, which depend on China for supplies of raw materials, components or intermediate items," he added.

To another question, he said India's exports to Pakistan amounted to USD 761.86 million during April 2019 to January 2020 as compared to USD 1,768.79 million in the same period in 2018-19, showing a decline of 57 per cent.

In a separate reply, he said according to information available, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has not received any reference regarding sudden increase in the price of Paracetamol by 40 per cent and Azithromycin by 70 per cent in the country.