India Approves 11 Special Economic Zones

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Sept. 17 – The Indian government gave the go signal to establish 11 special economic zones in the country with five of the IT related zones located in Karnataka in southwest India.

Ten of the SEZs have been officially approved while one was given an in-principle approval for a pharmaceuticals SEZ to be built by Vivimed Labs in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh.

Two of those SEZs will be established by IT services company, Wipro, in Bangalore and Mysore district also in Karnataka. Major outsourcing firm, Infosys, was also given approval to establish an SEZ in Bangalore.

Special economic zone funding was hit by the Global Financial Crisis leading to 18 zones to exit in July. “Requests for de-notification by the developers have been approved by the Board of Approval in respect of 18 SEZs…,” Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia wrote.

Developers applying for SEZ de-notification must give back the fiscal benefits they obtained before being allowed to cancel the project.

SEZ exports amounted to Rs. 2.2 trillion for the financial year 2009-2010. Figures have continued to improve  increasing by 68 percent to Rs. 586 billion.