3 SEZs cleared by GOVT.

The government on Tuesday gave formal clearances to three IT special economic zones (SEZs) in Navi Mumbai promoted by Mukesh Ambani and another by Tata Consultancy Services but deferred decision on all proposals for Uttar Pradesh.

The go-ahead was given at a meeting of commerce ministry's Board of Approval (BOA) on SEZs, which took up 19 proposals for consideration and decided to extend formal approvals to 10 of them.

"Three IT SEZs in Navi Mumbai and have been granted formal clearances," commerce secretary G.K. Pillai, who is also the chairperson of BOA, told reporters here.

"All proposals for setting up SEZs in Uttar Pradesh have been deferred since they did not have the possession of the land. Also, there was no official from the state government present," Pillai added.

Besides the three Navi Mumbai SEZs, other prominent ones that received official nod were those of Tata Consultancy Services in Gujarat and another from Gujarat Industrial Development Corp.

Pillai said the board has so far given formal approvals to 386 SEZs out of which 149 were notified. He said an investment of Rs.477 billion ($11.5 billion) has already been made in SEZs, providing direct employment to over 40,000 people.

The BOA chairman indicated that the government may soon reject as many as 100 SEZ proposals that had been given in-principle approvals but its promoters had failed to obtain their respective state government's approvals.

"However, they can re-apply and put in fresh application for the government to consider. They are free to apply," said Pillai.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com