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India's apex IT industry body Nasscom has batted for tweaks in safe harbour rules and widening the scope for utilisation of SEZ reinvestment reserves in its Budget wishlist, while advocating for creation of a central deeptech fund to bolster startup ecosystem in India. Creation of a grant framework for the deeptech ecosystem, and making the deferment of the time of payment of tax on Employee Stock Option Plan available to employees of all DPIIT-recognized startups also tops the Budget expectations of the industry. The Union Budget for financial year 2025-26 is scheduled to be presented in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, 2025. For the USD 250 billion export-led Indian IT industry, the Budget comes amid continued global macro headwinds, geopolitical risks, and growing unease about possibility of sudden policy and tariff moves by the US, where President Donald Trump has promised to script a new, glorious chapter for America with his headline-grabbing ..
The government has clarified that its decision to impose import curbs on certain types of studded gold jewellery is not applicable for units in the special economic zones (SEZs). On June 11, the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) through a notification imposed the restrictions to discourage inbound shipments of these items from countries like Indonesia and Tanzania. "It is clarified that imports made by SEZ units (other than free trade warehousing zones)...are outside the purview of this notification," the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) has said in a policy circular. The DGFT has said that it has received representations from SEZ units highlighting the issues faced by them due to this notification. Goods under restricted category need a licence/permission from the government. SEZs are key export hubs which contributed over one-third of the country's total outbound shipments in the last fiscal. These are enclosures that are treated as foreign territories for t
The proposed amendments in the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) law are expected to figure in the 100-day agenda of the commerce ministry for the next government and it may be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament, sources said. The monsoon session will be the first session of the newly elected government which will also see the presentation of the full budget for 2024-25. The seven-phase Lok Sabha polls, the world's biggest election exercise, will kick off on April 19 with the counting of votes set to take place on June 4. The government is considering several measures such as a flexible framework for the sale of products manufactured in SEZs in the domestic market, and streamlining approval processes for units, they said. The aim is to help revive SEZs and facilitate business transactions between SEZs and the domestic tariff area (DTA) or the domestic market. SEZs are enclosures that are treated as foreign territories for trade and customs duties, with restrictions on ...
West Bengal's gross state domestic product (GSDP) is likely to grow 10.5 for the financial year 2024-25 over the preceding fiscal, state industry and commerce minister Shashi Panja said on Thursday. The Economic Review for 2023-24 indicated that the state GSDP to grow by 7.65 per cent, outpacing the National average of 7.32 per cent. Speaking at a CII event here, the minister said West Bengal currently holds the position of the fourth-largest economy in the country. "The GSDP of the state for 2024-25 is estimated to grow at 10.5 per cent over the preceding fiscal", she said. Panja said the manufacturing sector of the state grew at 7.8 per cent in 2022-23, surpassing the national average of five per cent. She said that there had been no incidence of strikes since 2010-11, the state has uninterrupted power supply and also serves as a gateway to South East Asia with a substantial consumer base. Additional chief secretary and CMD of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBI
The government is working on reforms in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) domain so that movement of goods between domestic tariff area (DTA) and SEZ space is carried out smoothly without affecting the competitiveness of goods in the export markets, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said on Saturday. During the pandemic two years ago, many office spaces in the SEZ areas had been vacated due to 'work from home' practice initiated by the occupants. Barthwal said this had led to the demarcation of SEZs into SEZ and DTA spaces. "Scale economies have become very important nowadays. Reforms in the SEZ are in the offing so that movement of goods from SEZ to DTA and vice-versa are not affected rendering goods produced become less competitive", Barthwal said at a symposium organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce. The official said that the foreign trade policy (FTP) of the government had been framed keeping in mind the global value chain. "Our FTP has been designed for exporters to take
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said it recently searched the premises of a Surat-based LLP firm and entities linked to it for allegedly making "suspicious" outward remittances worth Rs 2,284 crore. The locations of Sharanam Jewels LLP, based in the Surat SEZ (special economic zone), its promoter Avadh Harshad Yagnik, Vansh Marketing, a proprietorship concern of Ashik Patel and others in Ahmedabad and Surat in Gujarat and Dhubri in Assam were searched under sections of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), the agency said in a statement. The probe was initiated on the basis of "credible" information that the said entities were involved in sending foreign exchange outside India "on a large scale" and that they made "suspicious" outward remittances amounting to Rs 2,284 crore on account of payment towards import settlement of invoices. The limited liability partnership (LLP) firm is into import and export of gems and jewellery and in the last two years, it conducte
The recent changes in the SEZ rules will benefit commercial office leasing and allow flexibility in demarcating parts of the SEZ area without significant cost implications, according to a report. The department of commerce on December 6 notified amendments to the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) rules of 2005. The amendments permit demarcation of parts of an SEZ area into non-SEZ area after repayment of tax benefits availed to date. Such demarcated areas are expected to have better occupancy, in line with the existing non-SEZ spaces, Crisil Ratings said in a note on Friday. Hence, benefits from better leasing and higher income from such parts will outweigh associated costs, the report said. The SEZ Act was introduced in 2005 to drive exports by providing tax exemptions for companies operating in such areas. While the sunset clause on these benefits kicked in from April 2020, higher compliance requirements continued. Also, prior to the amendments, SEZ operators could de-notify only th
The government is considering several measures such as a flexible framework for sale of products manufactured in special economic zones (SEZs) in the domestic market, easy de-notification norms, and streamlining approval processes for units, an official said. The aim is to help revive SEZs and facilitate business transactions between SEZ and domestic tariff area (DTA) or the domestic market. SEZs are enclosures which are treated as foreign territories for trade and customs duties, with restrictions on duty-free sales outside these zones in the domestic market. To seek views of different ministries on these measures, the commerce ministry has circulated a note on a draft SEZ (special economic zone) amendment bill 2023. The inter-ministerial consultation is going at a fast pace and the bill is likely to be introduced in the forthcoming Winter session of Parliament which will commence on December 4 and continue till December 22. This amendment bill will be introduced in place of the .
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said the government is looking at easing certain restrictions for units in the special economic zones (SEZ) to promote the sector's growth. SEZs in India are treated as foreign territories for trade and customs duties, with restrictions on duty-free domestic sales. "We are looking at ways and means to liberalise some of these restrictions on SEZ units. It's under consideration...We are discussing it with all the stakeholders and hopefully that itself will give a significant boost to the SEZ units," Goyal said here at an industry chamber function. Regarding the industry's demand to extend benefits of the Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Products (RoDTEP) Scheme to SEZs, he said the ministry will go about it "cautiously". "At some point in time we will consider it once we are very confident that it will not lead to WTO non-compliance," he added. In these zones, the largest areas of exports are petroleum products and ...
The government will take all the measures to make India competitive in producing green hydrogen, Union Minister R K Singh said. The minister for power, new and renewable energy made the remarks during a meeting with the green hydrogen developers on October 19, an official statement said on Friday. "With our single unified grid and large renewable capacity, India can produce the cheapest green hydrogen in the world. We will do everything in our power to make India competitive in producing green hydrogen and to achieve the targets set out in the National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM)," the minister was quoted as saying in the MNRE statement. The meeting aimed to understand the issues faced by the developers and how the government can help overcome these issues like SEZ policies, regulatory provisions for enabling dual connectivity, certain contractual conditions, and demand charges being levied by states among others. A presentation at the meeting showed that for producing 1 million