52% of the notified SEZ land vacant: Commerce Min

As much as 52 per cent of the notified special economic zones (SEZ) land is presently vacant in the country, Parliament was informed today.
Minister of State for Commerce and Industry C R Chaudhary in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha said that out of 423 zones approved after the SEZ Act, 2005 came into force, 357 have been notified and presently 221 are operational.
"Out of the 357 notified SEZs, 136 are non-operational," he said adding "52 per cent of the notified SEZ land is presently vacant".
The minister said that setting up of these zones is a long term process.

There are various reasons for delay in commencement of commercial operations of SEZs and that includes time taken in getting approvals from statutory/state government bodies, adverse business climate due to changed global economic situation and changes in fiscal incentives, he said.
Exports from these zones stood at Rs 2.66 lakh crore during April-January 17, 2017-18.
In a separate reply, he said the total foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow was USD 198.48 billion between April 2014 and October 2017.