Government approves 2 new SEZs, grants in-principle nod for another

The government has given formal approval to two more special economic zones in the country taking the total number of SEZs sanctioned in the country to 576.

The Board of Approval of the special economic zones (SEZs) announced this after its meeting to consider proposals for setting up of SEZs and also to approve other requests pertaining to SEZs.

The BoA has so far granted 576 formal approvals for setting up of SEZs, out of which 319 have been notified, chairman of the board said.

An amount of over Rs1,08,903 crore has been invested in the SEZs during this short span of time and these have provided direct employment to 3,87,439 persons, he said.

The SEZs have generated total export of Rs99,689 crore during the financial year 2008-09, registering a growth of about 50 per cent over the exports made during the year 2007-08, the release said.

The meeting considered 3 proposals for setting up SEZ and the board recommended grant of 2 formal approvals and one in-principle approval.

Formal approvals were granted to an IT/EH/SW incl/ITES SEZ by Shyam Steel Industries Ltd, in West Bengal. It also approved Genome Valley Biotech SEZs in Andhra Pradesh promoted by APIIC.

In-principle approval was granted to a multi service SEZ to be set up by Properties Limited in Tamil Nadu.

The BoA also approved 2 proposals for grant of co-developer status among other items.