IT SMEs may get SEZ breaks

West Bengal’s Information Technology Department (ITD) is looking into developing some Special Economic Zones (SEZ) specifically for the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) either in PPP model or independently.

Speaking on the sidelines of a press conference organised by Export Promotion Council for EOUs and SEZs, Debesh Das, IT minister of West Bengal, said that “the government wants to do something for the SME units for which the the government would either create some dedicated SEZs or would ask for a share of land from all those SEZs which are developed by private partners instead of getting a share of revenue.”

The SME units could use three to five acres depending on the requirement but since they would be a part of the a bigger SEZ, they would be eligible for tax benefits allowed to SEZs.

“We want the SMEs to enjoy the tax benefits which were currently extended to only those SEZ units which were of minimum 25 acre”, said Das.

This would be applied to both projects developed by the government as well as those SEZs that are developed in the public-private-partnership model.