The Hindu Business Line : 42 new SEZ proposals coming up for approval on Friday

New Delhi June 19 Three RIL-promoted SEZs for biotechnology, light engineering and pharmaceuticals and Reliance Infocomm's proposal for an IT and ITES SEZ are among 46 proposals to be taken up by the Board of Approval for SEZs when it meets on June 22 under the Chairmanship of Commerce Secretary Mr Gopal K. Pillai.

Official sources told Business Line that while the RIL-promoted SEZs at Navi Mumbai are all new proposals, the Board might also consider grant to the company's Navi Mumbai multi-product SEZ plan if the clarifications sought from the State Government and promoters are satisfactory and sufficient.

Even as the last board meeting held on June 5 cleared the GMR proposal for a 101-hectare SEZ linked to the greenfield airport under construction in Hyderabad, the company's second SEZ proposal for aviation sector - spread over 100 hectares - will be under consideration during the Friday meeting, the sources said. Of the 46 proposals, as many as 42 are new, they added.

The four other proposals are pending ones, including DLF's proposed SEZ at Sonapet, Haryana for electronics hardware and IT/ITES spread over 10.06 hectares, for which the company has acquired land.

A multi-product SEZ over 5,000 hectares (the maximum ceiling) in Karnataka proposed by Skill Infrastructure Ltd will also come up for approval.

SIPCOT's SEZ for leather products over 105.26 hectares at Ranipet Phase-III is among the 13 new proposals put forth by Tamil Nadu developers.

The sources said that till the first week of this month, the number of notified SEZs currently functioning in the country has gone up to 123.

The expected investment from them by the end of 2009 is likely to be Rs 1,48,440 crore. The additional employment generation would be 15.46 lakh.

They said that considering the fact that 180 approvals are pending notification, the aggregate investment would be Rs 3,00,000 crore and additional employment, four million.

Officials reckon that exports from new-generation SEZs amounted to Rs 34,787 crore in 2006-07, posting a growth of 52 per cent over Rs 22,840 crore in 2005-06.

If the 123 notified SEZs and the 19 previous SEZs (including the converted ones) are taken into account, the expected export turnover would be Rs 67,300 crore in the current fiscal, recording a growth of 200 per cent in just two years.

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