West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s opposition to the concept of special economic zones (SEZ) is not an open secret. However, this is not stopping industries from applying for SEZs in the state.
About 47 requests are waiting before the state government for granting SEZ status, according to a report by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham). This comes at a time when projects by information and technology majors like Infosys and Wipro were hanging in balance due to the state government’s policy of not giving SEZ status.
As per the report named “West Bengal-Unfolding Growth Strategy,” till February 2012 the state has received as many as 47 requests — of which 11 are notified, 22 are formal and 14 are in-principle requests.
At present the functional SEZs in the state include Falta SEZ (which is a multi-product zone), Manikanchan (dealing with Gems and Jewellery), Wipro at Saltlake (dealing with IT/ITes), Dalmiya and at Bantala (dealing with IT/ITes) and UnitechHightech at Rajarhat(dealing with IT/ITes). “More requests for setting up SEZs are coming to the State, mostly from sectors like IT and Hardware and Software Electronics, and Engineering,” the report said.
Earlier, the Trinamool Congress supremo had even said that the state cannot give SEZ status to Infosys and others, when the state has taken a policy of not to go for SEZ. “We cannot discriminate against the law,” she had said. Though the state offered an alternative software technology park (STP) status, it failed to generate interest among IT players.
Those who get SEZ status will get tax exemption of 100% for the first 5 years, and then 50% for next 5 years. Moreover, it enjoys many other favours like licence not necessary needed for import and custom duty exemption for raw materials, capital goods, spares and also exemption of excise duty on capital goods and raw materials.
