Relief policy not to hit 237 approved SEZs

The rehabilitation policy, which is being currently formulated by the Ministry of Rural Development, is unlikely to affect the special economic zones (SEZs) already approved by the government.

At the moment, fresh approvals and notifications are on hold as the empowered group of ministers (EGoM) has to take a final decision on issues like land acquisition, rehabilitation and alleged tax evasion by SEZ units.

"The rehabilitation policy is unlikely to affect the 237 formally approved SEZs because they already have the land in their possession. The rehabilitation policy will deal with fresh land acquisitions and SEZs with in-principle approvals will fall under the ambit of the proposed rehabilitation policy," said a commerce ministry official.

"We are only waiting for a go-ahead from the EGoM to convene the Board of Approval meeting so that the issues related to the formally approved SEZs could be sorted out and they could be notified," added the official.

The total land in possession with the 237 formally approved SEZs is 34,510 hectares, out of which 17,800 hectares is with state government ventures. "Not a single farmer has been displaced due to the formally approved SEZs," the official added.

According to commerce ministry officials, problems on land acquisition are being faced only in case of certain zones, like the Reliance Maha-Mumbai SEZ near Mumbai and the Indonesian Salim Group's SEZ in Nandigram in West Bengal, which have been granted in-principal approvals by the Board of Approval. "There are no problems regarding fresh land acquisition in states like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu or Gujarat," the official added.

On the issue of potential revenue loss due to the zones, the commerce ministry has intimated the Department of Revenue that there could be generation of revenue worth Rs 50,000 crore from the formally approved SEZs. "The Department of Revenue estimates that the revenue forgone due to SEZs could be Rs 1,00,000 crore but the commerce ministry calculations show that there could be generation of Rs 1,50,000 crore worth of revenue," said the official.