20 Special Economic Zones approved by Board of Approval

20 Special Economic Zones have been approved by the Board of Approval (BoA) on Thursday. 15 plans have been granted formal approval while 5 have received in-principle nod by the Board. The major SEZ plans which got the green signal included those from Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Cognizant Technology and Gitanjali Gems.

In an official state, BoA Chairman Mr. G K Pillai said, “The BoA has given formal approval to 15 SEZs and in-principle nod to five.”

The total number of formally cleared SEZs stands at 381 including the current approvals. The board has given in-principle approvals to 183 proposals. The next meeting of the Board is scheduled on September 18.

Tata Consultancy Services got the approval for its Information Technology SEZ in Ranga Reddy District of Andhra Pradesh. The company plans to set up the zone in 30.35 hectare. Cognizant Technology Solutions has also got an approval for Information Technology Special Economic Zone. The company will set up the zone in 16-hectare.

Among other major projects which got approval were those of lspun and Gitanjali Gems. Ispun has plans for 121 hectare engineering SEZ. Gitanjali Gems has plans to setup two Special Economic Zones. First plan is to setup a 102 hectare gems and jewellery zone. Second plan is for a 1,000 hectare multi-product SEZ in the state of Maharashtra.

The SEZ plans of Anant Raj Industries for IT specific zone in Haryana was declined after Haryana state government withdrew its permission. AEC Marketing also got a setback as its jewellery zone in Dadra and Nagar Haveli was declined.

Special Economic Zones have been very successful as they attract huge investments due to tax sops for companies. 142 notified SEZs have attracted an investment of more than Rs 47,000 crore. As per official estimates, more than 40,000 persons have got employment in these Zones.