New Delhi: Northern states do not provide
the right environment to get the Special Economic Zones (SEZs)
proposals formally approved or notified compared to states in
the South, says a study.
The Centre has approved 10 SEZs in Punjab, out of which
only two are notified. In Madhya Pradesh, 14 SEZs have been
formally approved out of which only five are notified, said a
report jointly released by consultancy firm PwC and industry
body Assocham.
"The state governments in northern states are partly
responsible for it as land acquisition in north has been
consistently subject to intense controversies because of
loopholes in their policies," Assocham President Sajjan Jindal
said.
The report said that southern states like Tamil Nadu,
Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh have more number of
notified Special Economic Zones (SEZs) because of their
investor friendly land acquisition policies compared to states
in North India.
"Investment friendly land acquisition policies of
southern states have pushed them go far ahead in getting
larger number of SEZs notified compared to northern states,"
it said.
The survey said as far as state-wise distribution of SEZs
is concerned, the government has approved 69 SEZs in Tamil
Nadu of which 54 are notified and in a majority of them
construction work has been started.
Similarly, in Andhra Pradesh, 103 such zones got formal
approval, out of which 70 such facilities are notified as on
date.
In Karnataka and Kerala, the number of SEZs approved are
53 and 25 respectively, of which 30 and 10 are notified.
The report has recommended that wherever work for
commissioning SEZs is being delayed, the government should
ensure their de-notification as current SEZ rules do not
provide for a specific de-notification process.
It also said that ancillaries/vendors/support
manufacturers of the main industry should be given benefits so
that they can house themselves in the SEZs.
Assocham said the tax incentives need to be carried on
for SEZs in the new Direct Tax Code proposed by the UPA
government.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, September 21, 2009, 19:41