BoP gives 'go ahead' to six SEZ projects

After having remained in a dormant condition for quite some time, the SEZ sector is slowly regaining its past glory with the Board of Approval (BoA) recently clearing six projects for four SEZ developers. The Board approved three proposals from the Hyderabad-based infrastructure developer GAR Corporation, to set up two IT and IT-enabled services (ITeS), special economic zones (SEZs) in Telangana on 1.6 hectares and 2.56 hectares at Kokapet in Hyderabad. Vaxenic India, also from Hyderabad, too received the Centre‘s nod to establish a biotechnology SEZ in 11.47 hectare at Kolthur village in Shamirpet mandal on the city outskirts. The decision was taken by the Board of BoA, headed by Commerce Secretary, Rita Teaotia, at its recent meeting and the proposals were subsequently cleared by the Central government. SEZs are export hubs, which contribute about 23% to the country’s total outbound shipments. The exports from such 204 zones were Rs. 4.63 lakh crore in 2014-15, said commerce ministry sources, adding that these zones had attracted investments of Rs. 3.76 lakh crore and generated employment for 15.91 lakh people, as on March this year.