By IANS,
New Delhi : India’s special economic zones (SEZs) will attract investments worth Rs.2 trillion ($44.4 billion) and provide direct employment to over 800,000 people by 2009, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said here Tuesday.
Speaking at an interactive meeting with the developers of SEZs and export-oriented units (EOUs), Kamal Nath said exports from SEZs will cross Rs.1.25 trillion this fiscal, registering a growth of around 100 percent.
“This year exports from SEZs are expected to cross Rs.125,000 crore (Rs.1.25 trillion), registering a growth of around 100 percent,” an official press communiqué quoted Kamal Nath as saying in the meeting.
Commerce secretary G.K. Pillai and senior officials from the ministry of commerce and industry also attended the meeting, which reviewed the functioning of SEZs in India.
The minister said exports from EOUs in this fiscal was of Rs.1.42 trillion, showing a growth of approximately 128 percent over last year’s exports.
Though there was no official word, sources said the developers sought easing norms for SEZs, including an upward revision of 5,000 hectares ceiling on the projects and exempting units in SEZs from service tax.
The cap of 5,000 hectares has affected several SEZs to be developed by the private players like Reliance Industries Ltd, DLF and Omaxe Group.
Sources said the participants also raised concerns about the finance ministry’s proposal to levy a minimum 12.5 percent alternate tax on SEZ units, which has been resented not only by the promoters but also by the ministry of commerce and industry.
The commerce ministry has maintained that levying such taxes would go against the provisions in the SEZ laws, which promises 100 percent tax exemption on profits in the first five years of operation of a unit in SEZ.
In India, there are around 462 formally approved SEZs at present, out of which 222 have already been notified, and over 40 of them are fully operational.
An official estimate says 336,235 people were employed – directly or indirectly – in SEZs as on March 2008, while direct employment created in notified SEZs stood at 97,993 as on March 31, 2008.