Half of India’s exports from state-based SEZs
While Gujarat may not have the highest number of notified special economic zones (SEZs) in the country, it has still managed to grab a lion's share in terms of overall exports from SEZs.
The exports from all operational SEZs India is all set to cross Rs 2 lakh crore during this fiscal, of which Gujarat is likely to contribute close to 50 per cent with over Rs 1 lakh crore exports, according to senior Central government sources close to the development.
"SEZ exports from the country will almost double this year as compared to last year and Gujarat is the largest contributer among all states," the official said. Till december, India's exports from SEZs were Rs 1,50,000 crore, according to sources.
According to ministry of commerce and industry's official site, Andhra Pradesh leads with 72 notified SEZs, followed by Maharashtra which has 57 SEZs. Tamil Nadu has 55 SEZs and Haryana has 32 notified SEZs.
Ten functional Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Gujarat have contributed to about Rs 94000 crores of export upto February 2010, which is much more than the export figures of the entire financial year 2008-09 against only Rs. 99,000 crores by all the SEZs in the country during the same period.
Reliance Industries' Jamnagar SEZ is poised to cross Rs 75,000 crore mark in the current fiscal, becoming the largest SEZ in in the country in terms of exports.
Surat Special Economic Zone or SURSEZ ranks second with its exports touching Rs 20,000 crore till January. Nokia SEZ in Tamil Nadu is third largest in the country with its exports crossing Rs 10,000 crore till January this year, sources said.
In the last three years, about Rs 60,000 crores have been invested in Mundra SEZ, Dahej SEZ and Sterling SEZ and other notified SEZs in Gujarat which are at various stages of implementation
Meanwhile, Kandla Free Trade Zone (KFTZ) has crossed the exports figure crossed Rs. 1994.55 crores mark during the current financial year upto February 2010.
Last year, SURSEZ was the largest exporter in the country followed by Nokia SEZ.
As on date there are 182 units in Kandla SEZ (KASEZ) out of which 29 units are from engineering sector, 29 units are from chemical and allied products, 37 units are of garments sector, 38 units of plastics, 6 intra-zone sale units, 23 trading units and 20 others.
The exports for the financial year 2008-2009 were Rs 2420.38 crores, which is a 25 per cent (approx.) growth over last year from the existing area of the zone. During the financial year 2008-09 the total exports from KASEZ were 2420.38 crores which speaks that ever since its inception, KASEZ has achieved continuous growth and has adopted its operations to the challenges of increased volumes of trade over the years.
During the current financial year upto February 2010 the exports figure crossed Rs. 1994.55 crores mark.
KASEZ has not only succeeded in earning of valuable foreign exchange for the country with high level of value addition on inputs, it has also provided direct employment to over 26,000 people and has also brought in investment of over 626 crores so far including 100 per cent foreign investment by some of the units.
