EGoM's nod to 82 SEZs likely next week

Eighty-two Special Economic Zones (SEZs), which are in an advanced stage of notification, are likely to be cleared next week at a meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

The meeting will also consider a suggestion to put a cap on the size of SEZs, with the balance of advantage resting with relatively smaller SEZs.

The political clearance for this was obtained following a meeting between Commerce Minister Kamal Nath and Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday.

On Friday, Nath, along with commerce ministry officers, met Mukherjee to discuss on how to take the process forward.

In Chennai, Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran confirmed that the meeting would be held next week. He expressed the hope that those SEZs which had been approved in Tamil Nadu but were put on hold due to the controversy over land acquisition, would be given the go-ahead.

This is because most of the SEZs in the state were being set up on land owned by the Small Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu.

"Any decision regarding SEZs will have to come from the Empowered Group of Ministers, be it on fresh approvals or on notifications. Out of the 171 approved zones, 82 are in an advanced stage of notification and hence the EGoM should not have any problem in clearing them," said a commerce ministry official.

The formally approved SEZs already have the land in their possession, and the commerce ministry officials maintain that these zones would not face hurdles relating to approvals from the government.

Of these, 63 notified SEZs are likely to generate export earnings of Rs 21,632 crore in 2007-08. There are 160 in-principle approved zones in the country that are yet to acquire land.