Cognizant seeks govt nod to set up SEZ in Telangana

The Board of Approval, headed by Commerce Secretary, will consider the application at its meeting on Feb 23

Cognizant Technologies Services Pvt Ltd has sought government approval to set up a special economic zone (SEZ) in Telangana.

The Board of Approval (BoA), headed by Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia, will consider the application at its meeting on February 23.

Cognizant has proposed to set up in Ranga Reddy district of Telangana, an IT/ITeS SEZ over an area of 2.51 hectares.

SEZs, which are major export hubs, have lost sheen after the imposition of minimum alternate tax. The Commerce Ministry has suggested to the Finance Ministry to remove the MAT.

The BoA will also consider eight applications of SEZ developers including that of Kandla Port Trust and G P Realtors which have sought more time to implement their projects.

Kandla Port Trust, developer of multi product SEZ at Kandla and Tuna, has sought further extension of the validity period of formal approval, beyond May 6, according to the agenda note of the BoA meeting.

Similarly, G P Realtors Pvt Ltd have asked for more time to complete its electronic hardware and IT/ITeS special economic zone in Haryana.

In its last meeting on December 30, 2015, the board has given more time to developers of as many as 13 special economic zones, including Navi Mumbai SEZ, to complete their projects.

The BoA is a 19-member inter-ministerial body that deals with SEZ-related matters. It provides single window clearance mechanism to developers and units in these zones.

During the April-September period this fiscal, exports from these zones stood at Rs 2.21 lakh crore as against Rs 4.63 lakh crore in 2014-15.

During the first half of this fiscal, these zones generated 15.44 lakh jobs.