Twenty-nine developers of Special Economic Zones (SEZ), including Tata Consultancy Services, Navi Mumbai SEZ and Parsvnath have been given more time by the Government to execute their projects.
Global slowdown and fluctuating market conditions were among the top factors cited by the developers for the delay in their projects.
The Board of Approval (BoA) for SEZs, headed by Commerce Secretary S.R. Rao, approved the extensions in its meeting on November 8. Representatives from a number of Ministries and Departments including Revenue, Home, Agriculture and Urban Development, are part of the BoA.
“The Board after deliberations, extended the validity of the formal approval beyond fifth year for a period of one year and those beyond sixth year for a period of six months from the date of expiry of last extension,” according to the minutes of the meeting.
Tata Consultancy Services got extension of one year till December 13, 2014 for its IT/ITES in Kolkata. Parsvnath Infra Ltd got six more months for bio-technology SEZ in Andhra Pradesh.
Posco was given another year for obtaining land and starting work on its multi-product SEZ.
The board also approved two proposals – Kerala State IT Infrastructure Ltd and Transcendent Developers – for setting up of IT zones.
The request for extension by Ascendant Estates Pvt. Ltd’s IT/ITES SEZ in Gurgaon was, however, rejected by the BoA on the grounds that the progress made in the project since the last extension was not satisfactory.
Earlier this year, SEZs were given greater operational flexibility with the Government slashing the minimum area requirement for setting up such zones across sectors and easing exit norms.
SEZ investments took a big hit after the Finance Ministry imposed Minimum Alternate Tax on developers and units three years ago.