The Hindu Business Line : Roadmap for future of SEZs in offing

THE Commerce Minister, Mr Arun Jaitley, on Wednesday said that he would take up certain pending issues concerning special economic zones (SEZs) with the Finance Ministry to ensure that the 17 approved SEZs get off to a good start.

Addressing the Parliamentary Committee meeting attached to his Ministry, he said that he would also lay out the roadmap for the future of SEZs through various policy measures.

These include a Central SEZ Act, meeting infrastructure needs and follow-up with the State Governments.

The revenue-related pending issues include operationalisation of provisions of the Customs Act relating to SEZs approved in the 2002-03 Union Budget, exemption from Central Sales Tax, duty-free material for setting up of SEZs and exemption from service tax to developers of units in SEZs.

The Minister highlighted the role SEZs could play in exploiting the export potential in identified growth centres, bolstered by due central initiatives.

The Congress member, Mr Kapil Sibal, cautioned against having multiplicity of SEZ Acts by States, which would lead to lack of uniformity and could weaken the autonomy of the zones.

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