The Hindu Business Line : SEZ: 70 proposals worth Rs 10,000 cr under study

Mr Kamal Nath, Minister for Commerce and Industry, and Chairman for the Partnership Summit 2006, and Mr Fidel V. Ramos, former President of Philippines, and Chairman, Ramos Peace and Development Foundation, at a meeting in Kolkata on Wednesday. - A. Roy Chowdhury

Kolkata , Jan. 18

THE Government expects to notify sector-specific Rules of the SEZ Act within the next 10 days, and this is expected to bring in substantial investments in these zones.

Briefing newspersons after speaking at the Special Plenary on `India and the World: Global Trade Strategy' of the CII Partnership Summit 2006, the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Mr Kamal Nath, said that some 70 proposals envisaging investments to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore are under consideration; once the Rules come into play, things would begin to happen.

He said that the Rules would provide stability to the now functioning 25 SEZs, which have hitherto not been under any specific piece of legislation and are therefore not attracting investments to the desired extent.

The Minister also announced that the Government expects to sign an FTA with Asean (governing trade with all Asean countries) sometime in mid-2006. On FDI in the retail sector, he said that the problem was that 98 per cent of the retail sector in the country was unorganised; hence, any FDI has to ensure that there is no displacement of existing employment opportunities and no loss of jobs.

The UPA Government, he said, is examining such FDI proposals only in a cold chain for fruits and vegetables. No definitive structure has been proposed as yet, even though some States actually want FDI in various other sectors, he added.

Earlier, addressing the captains of industry, the Minister said that the country was poised to move up the value chain of global perception, with everybody recognising India as being on the cusp of a new economic paradigm.

Stating that high-end R&D in sectors like pharmaceuticals research, avionics, etc., was now putting India on the global knowledge map as a vibrant source of intellectual capital for the world, he said: "The next step on the journey is to move from BPOs to engineering process outsourcing and even knowledge process outsourcing."

Sounding confident that "we will have a host of homegrown MNCs operating all around the world," he said that most global merger & acquisition deals have focused on the larger companies.

"If more mid-sized Indian companies were to go in for acquisition deals, the boost to India's economy can be substantial."

Lauding India Inc for substantially contributing to this upbeat perception of India, Mr Kamal Nath said: "The Indian corporate sector has displayed an extraordinary ability to adapt creatively to the challenges and opportunities of globalisation. We have evolved now into a low-cost base for a range of goods and services, and at the same time, are rapidly ascending the knowledge chain."