The Hindu Business Line : Former official for policy tweak to sort out SEZ issue

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Kolkata Jan. 21 Describing the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) policy of the Government of India as a well-thoughtout plan to attract private investments under a single window for all projects, Mr S.N. Menon, former Union Commerce Secretary, has said that the basic idea behind this was to develop infrastructure in a spatial manner, supported by speedy anchor investments, which will help reduce transaction costs for Indian exporters.

Admitting that problems could arise when agricultural lands are allotted for large multi-purpose SEZs, the former bureaucrat said adequate policy modulation was required to address the issue of rehabilitation. "Under any case, I would like to believe that land where subsistence agriculture was being practised should not be earmarked for SEZs," he said.

Speaking at the 23rd Indian Paint Conference here, he said the rehabilitation programme (for displaced farmers) should be well planned. He informed that the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) was already looking at a new Pilot Rehab Scheme for the purpose.

Skewed growth

Commenting on "India Untapped: Global Reach", he said even though the Indian economy was booming, there were still areas of concern like rising inflation (over 6 per cent), volatility of oil prices and the skewed growth of the Indian economy (urban growth not shared by the rural sector). Balanced growth, he felt, can come only through investments in infrastructure.

Asean FTA

Pointing out that trade facilitation was important for India in the on-going round of talks based on the Doha Agenda, Mr Menon felt the Asean FTA was likely to be finalised by July 2007. On the proposed FTA with Japan, he said the first meeting would be held soon.

Earlier, when inaugurating the 23rd Indian Paint Conference, Mr Somnath urged the paints industry to focus on quality improvement by using the latest available technology.

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