 "Odisha SEZ policy promises tax sops")
"Previously, we had an SEZ policy but it was withdrawn after the Centre came up with a policy for the sector. To promote SEZs, the new policy provides exemption on registration and stamp duty charges to the developers," said chief secretary G C Pati.
Under the new policy, developers of multi product SEZs can sub-lease land on the condition that the land has to be utilised within five years.
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The new SEZ policy would be applicable to both existing and proposed SEZs in the state.
The notified SEZs in Odisha include Tata Steel's multi product SEZ at Gopalpur, Vedanta's sector specific SEZ (Jharsuguda), Saraf Agencies SEZ (Chhatrapur), Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) IT/ITes SEZ, Hindalco Industries SEZ (Sambalpur) and the Infovalley IT SEZ being developed by Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.
The formulation of the state SEZ policy is crucial since many big industrial investors like Tata Steel and Vedanta were awaiting it for availing the incentives.
Though the policy was framed in 2010, it failed to move forward since the finance department was opposed to doling out tax sops and incentives in line with the prevailing SEZ policy of the Centre.
As per the state SEZ policy, the import of goods and services made by SEZ units located within the processing zone from the domestic tariff area shall be exempted from VAT, entry tax, electricity duty and other cess payable on sales and transactions.
The new policy has identified 14 sectors as thrust areas and made an attempt to move beyond the state's natural strength in metallurgical sectors like steel and aluminium to look for attracting investments in sectors like information technology, biotechnology, electronics, automobiles and auto component manufacturing, ship building, gems and jewellery and pharmaceuticals
Under the SEZ Policy, the state government shall not encourage SEZs based on mining and minerals like iron ore, chrome ore and bauxite. However, SEZs based on the use of intermediate products like alumina for smelting, primary metals for further processing on the value chain and rare minerals like tin, ilmenite, nickel, platinum and vanadium will be allowed.
Moreover, the state would not encourage SEZs based on activities like mining that cause pollution.
Gujarat was the first state to formulate a state specific SEZ policy in 2002 and enacted a legislation to this effect in 2004. Besides Gujarat, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab, Kerala, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have formulated SEZ policies.