Mumbai: The board of approval for special economic zones has deferred more than 150 SEZ proposals even as it continued to go top-speed in granting approvals.

Most of these proposals came directly before the board and were not backed by the respective state governments, commerce ministry sources pointed out.

The board has so far approved 236 proposals for setting up SEZs while it has granted in-principle approval to 169 others. The board has, meanwhile, received about 60 fresh applications, sources added.

"As many as 236 proposals for SEZs have got formal approval, while in-principle approval has been given to 169 by the board of approval so far. The board has also deferred 150 proposals during its meetings held since February," senior commerce ministry officials said.

They said that the proposals were still listed for consideration as state governments may also put approvals on fast-track. Some of the cases have been deferred because of delay in security clearances, they said.

"The cases which come directly to the BoA are referred back to the state governments for various approvals. The clearance at the state government-end takes more than 15 days that are given as notice for the BoA meeting," officials said.

Officials said the security agencies and state governments are finding it tough to meet the deadline of 15 days for granting clearance and the ministry has proposed an increase in clearance period to 30 days at the respective ends.