The Hindu Business Line : What will happen to Satyam’s SEZs?

Satyam was expected to invest up to Rs 60 crore and provide employment to 3,000 in the Gujarat IT-SEZ and an offshore development centre that was planned.

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Hyderabad, Jan. 12 Satyam Computer Services was one of the favoured IT companies for several States that wanted to attract investments and develop IT-SEZs (Special Economic Zones).

Sample this: During 2008, Hyderabad-based Satyam, now tottering under a financial fraud case, received clearance for five SEZs, with an estimated investment of over Rs 800 crore. The company was among the toast of Mr Narendra Modi’s Gujarat during 2007. The State allotted 26 acres at Rs 11.5 crore after Satyam signed an agreement in December 2006.

Satyam was expected to invest up to Rs 60 crore and provide employment to 3,000 in the IT-SEZ and an offshore development centre was planned. The project is now under review, post the unsavoury happenings at the IT major.

Status

Of the five SEZs cleared in 2008, two are in Hyderabad — Bahadurpally and Serilingampally (Madhapur) — in Hitec City. While Bahadurpally was a Rs 100-crore investment for 10.52 hectares, in Madhapur, the company invested Rs 75 crore of the Rs 100 crore proposed for the project spread over 12.14 hectares.

The other SEZs are to be developed in Nagpur, Chennai and Visakhapatnam. In Visakhapatnam, the company has proposed an investment of Rs 100 crore for the SEZ at Thotlakonda where it got 20.23 acres, according to official records.

According to the company’s disclosures, phase-one work was scheduled to commence from April 1, 2008 at Hyderabad, while the Chennai project would begin in the next 12-18 months. In Chennai, the Tamil Nadu Government has allotted 50 acres.

Work on Nagpur and Vizag SEZs was expected in the second phase. The capital for the development was to have been raised through internal accruals.

Additional land

Meanwhile, the Orissa Government has put on hold the company’s request for additional land for increasing operations. Satyam has around 500 associates there and had requested for about nine acres for development.

In Kolkata, the company evinced interest for a 25-acre plot near Rajarhat for an IT SEZ. However, no formal application was submitted. The company in 2006 was allotted 2.77 acres in the Salt Lake Electronics Complex for a software development centre, but this project is yet to take off.

With the serious turn of events and the financial crisis staring at the company, there would be question marks on several of these projects.