The Hindu Business Line : Seven States seek Centre nod for regional SEZ

Seven States — Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Orissa, West Bengal and Maharashtra — have approached the Centre for setting up of special economic/investment regions in their region. These would be on the lines of Pudong region in China, Houston (US), Rotterdam (the Netherlands).

The regions would basically have large areas — in the range of 200-250 square km, apart from having world-class infrastructure facilities such as wide roads, railways and port connectivity. The economic region could have several SEZ areas under it, said Mr Ajay Dua, Secretary, DIPP, while speaking at the Indo-German infrastructure dialogue here. German industrialists had expressed concerns on infrastructure facilities in India.

The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, had constituted a Task Force on Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Regions that would enable quick and coordinated decision-making to attractinvestments in the petrochemicals sector. The policy initiative on the lines of special economic region could also be extended to other sectors.

"There are proposals for Haldia (West Bengal), Vizag (Andhra Pradesh), Dahej (Gujarat), Mangalore (Karnataka), Paradip (Orissa), area near Kundli-Panipat (Haryana) and South coastal Mumbai/Ratnagiri (Maharashtra)," said Mr Dua.

Policy framework

The initiative will be backed by an appropriate policy framework for the development of these regions of requisite scale and level of facilities. The areas chosen could be greenfield or brownfield areas. The incentives to attract investment may come in the form of higher concession periods, fiscal incentives from Centre and facilitating moves from States such as faster utilities clearance.

The proposal, which is yet to be finalised, would be sent to Cabinet for approval. However, it may not need Parliamentary nod and could possibly be finalised under policy initiatives.

The PCPIR would expedite the necessary clearances, upgradation and connectivity, including the SEZ clearance for the designated area within the investment region, infrastructural facilities, various environmental clearances, and the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearances, among others.

Earlier, a FICCI-KPMG report on `Doing business in India' was released by Mr Ashwani Kumar, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, for German business fraternity. The new industrial policy on the anvil is likely to have incentives for those regions that have high SC/ST population, said Mr Kumar. "The idea is to ensure labour intensive units are set up at those places," he added.

Mr Dua today attracted investment to the country pointing out that India extends equal status without any discrimination to all domestic as well as foreign firms, once they are incorporated in the country.

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