JAITLEY WANTS SPEEDIER IMPLEMENTATION
OF SEZs
PARLIAMENTARY
CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY MEETS
Shri Arun Jaitley,
Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Law & Justice,
today underlined the need for speedier implementation of Special
Economic Zones (SEZs) and said that "the process of getting the
Zones ready should not have roadblocks". He was speaking at the
Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to his Ministry
here this morning. The agenda for discussion was "SEZs – Experience
of other countries and the state of our SEZs". While calling for
a faster roadmap for SEZs, Shri Jaitley also highlighted the role
that such Zones supported by central initiatives could play in
exploiting the export potential in identified growth sectors.
Shri Rajeev Pratap Rudy and Shri Vidyasagar Rao, Ministers of
State for Commerce & Industry; Shri Dipak Chatterjee, Commerce
Secretary and other senior officers were present.
Members who participated
in the meeting – S/Shri Kapil Sibal, P. C. Thomas, M. Master Mathan,
Prakash V Patil, B. Venkateshwarlu, Rajkumar Dhoot and Ms. Prema
Cariappa – were unanimous in welcoming the concept of SEZs, which
they felt good give a real boost to the country’s exports and
made several suggestions for effective implementation of the scheme.
Shri Sibal said that for SEZs to succeed they must be totally
decentralised as was the case in China. He also cautioned against
having multiplicity of SEZ Acts by states which would have no
uniformity and could undermine the autonomy of the Zones. He further
suggested that the Commerce & Industry Minister should call
a meeting of Chief Ministers on SEZs to explain the benefits that
would flow to the states by setting up these Zones and to get
their inputs so as to have a faster roadmap for SEZs.
In a presentation
before the Committee, status of SEZs in India and the policy packages
announced so far were highlighted. The SEZ scheme, which was launched
in April 2000 and aims to provide an internationally competitive
duty-free environment for export production supported by world-class
infrastructure, has received a good response from State Government/private
promoters and so far 17 new SEZs have been approved – Positra
(Gujarat); Indore (Madhya Pradesh); Navi-Mumbai (Maharashtra);
Nangunery (Tamil Nadu); Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh); Gopalpur
(Orissa); Hassan (Karnataka); Kulpi (West Bengal); Salt Lake (Kolkata);
Bhadohi (Uttar Pradesh); Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh); Grater Noida
(Uttar Pradesh); Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh); Paradeep (Orissa);
Vallarpadam/Puthuvypeen (Kerala); Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh); and
Khopta (Maha Mumbai – Maharashtra). Governments of Andhra Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka have already
announced their policy on SEZs, while Uttar Pradesh has enacted
its SEZ Act. In addition, 8 existing Export Processing Zones (EPZs)
located in Kandla & Surat (Gujarat), Cochin (Keala), Santa
Cruz (Mumbai-Maharashtra), Falta (West Bengal), Madras (Tamil
Nadu), Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Noida (Uttar Pradesh)
have been converted into SEZs.
Shri Jaitley indicated
that he would take up with the Finance Ministry certain pending
issues concerning SEZs and also speed up the roadmap for future
through various means such as enactment of the Central SEZ Act;
addressing infrastructure needs; follow-up with the state governments
etc. The revenue-related pending issues include operationalisation
of provisions of the Customs Act relating to SEZs approved in
the 2002-03 budget; exemption from Central Sales Tax; duty-free
material for setting up of SEZs and exemption from service tax
to developers of units.
Members appreciated
the initiatives taken by the government to address the problems
of the plantation sector, especially the setting up of Rs. 500
crore Price Stabilisation Fund. They noted that there had been
recovery in tea prices as a result of these efforts. Members also
urged the government to resolve the DEPB problems which were affecting
exports of marine products. There was also a suggestion aggressive
export promotion of plantation items in order to ensure remunerative
prices for growers.
Additional Information
Highlighting the
importance of SEZs, a background note circulated at the meeting
states: "The effectiveness of SEZs in generating export production
is already well established by the performance of such Zones world-wide.
Exports in the year 2000 from these Zones were US $ 850 billion,
representing 15% of the total world export. The Zones are also
increasingly being perceived as a major source of attracting FDI.
The need for SEZs as vehicles for production for exports and increased
FDI have been highlighted in the report of McKinsey (2001) on
‘Achieving a quantum leap in India’s FDI’. The Report recommends
that ‘over the next 5 years India could attract FDI of over US
$ 11 billion in the exports sector. Major action required for
doing so is the creation of SEZs offering world class infrastructure
and other facilities’".
