The government today approved 11 new proposals to set up special economic zones (SEZs), including those of information technology (IT) giants Infosys and Wipro. The decisions were taken by the Board of Approval (BoA) of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry under the chairmanship of Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar.
In its meeting here, BoA also cleared the proposal of steel giant JSL to surrender its stainless steel SEZ in Orissa. “The developer has requested for de-notification of the SEZ, stating that as a result of the global meltdown and recession in the global markets for stainless steel and its products, the exports of such products may not reach the desired levels to make the SEZ viable,” said an official note.
The Board took up eight fresh proposals all of which were granted approval. Infosys got approval for its 24.44-acre IT-ITeS SEZ in Karnataka, while Wipro got approval to set up two SEZs in Karnataka. BoA also cleared two SEZs by Lepakshi Knowledge Hub Pvt Ltd in Andhra Pradesh and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust’s port-based multi-product SEZ in Mumbai. Besides, the government also gave its nod to 37 SEZ developers, including Wipro, Mahindra and Mahindra and Ansal SEZ Projects, to execute their projects by giving them additional time to start operations.