AP, Maharashtra lead in SEZ race

States like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat have stolen a march over the others in terms of attracting special economic zones, with 65 of the 106 SEZ cases formally approved located in these states.

Andhra Pradesh has 20 of the approved SEZs, while Maharashtra has 18 zones, Tamil Nadu has 16 and Gujarat, 11.

Given the highly uneven distribution of these zones across the states, the Board of Approval (BoA) is mulling evening out the spread of approved SEZs, not only across states, but also across sectors before the cap of 150 SEZs is reached.

Once the cap is reached, the commerce ministry will go back to the group of ministers on SEZs to chart a course of action.

The cap of 150 SEZs is expected to be met by the next BoA meeting on August 8. With 66 IT SEZs having already received final approval, the BoA may decide to go slow on clearing more IT SEZs.

Officials said governments were now lobbying with companies to lure them into setting up zones in their states. "The most investor-friendly states appear to have an edge," an official said.

Officials said the next BoA meeting would consider around 130 deferred proposals, including three of Suzlon, for setting up non-conventional energy SEZs.

Some of the other proposals expected to be taken up include two textile SEZs, a petrochemicals SEZ of TCG Refineries at Haldia in West Bengal and a multi-product SEZ in Uttaranchal.

Of the 20 SEZs approved in Andhra Pradesh, 13 zones are for IT and three are for pharma. Gems and jewellery, footwear, free-trade warehousing and port-based multi-products have one zone each.

Similarly, of the 18 zones located in Maharashtra, five are for IT, three for pharma, four for textiles, two for auto and one each for bio-technology, agro and multi-services. There is one multi-product zone.

In Tamil Nadu, of the 16 approved SEZs, 13 are for IT and one each for electronic hardware, textiles and footwear. Gujarat has 11 approved SEZs, of which four are multi-product ones, one is a petroleum zone, two each for pharma and apparel, and one for electronics and gems and jewellery.

Haryana has five approved IT SEZs, while Kerala has six approved SEZs, of which four are for IT. Uttar Pradesh has four approved SEZs, of which three are for IT. West Bengal has three approved SEZs, of which two are for IT and one is a leather zone.

States with two approved SEZs include Punjab, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Chandigarh, Delhi and Jharkhand have opened their account with one approved SEZ each.