SEZ's Size - Govt willing to be Flexible in Future but not now

SEZ's are once again back in the picture with "SEZ size" and "land acquiring" being the key issue. Government is willing to be flexible on the limit of 5,000 hectare land area of Special Economic Zones, but not now as decided by EGoM. Reliance will be heavily affected from the limit of 5,000 hectares as it is already acquiring land for two SEZs spread over 10,000 hectares each in Haryana and Maharashtra.

Another party that will be affected by the SEZ size policy is the Tata group, as they have to rethink on plans of setting up a special economic zone (SEZ) in Maharashtra, following the Centre’s recent policy intervention. The Tatas were on the verge of finalising its second SEZ at Sinnar near Nashik. The group is developing an SEZ at Gopalpur in Orissa.

Another jolt for the SEZ developers comes at a time when the Maharashtra Government decided to stop land acquisition by force and abide by the 5,000 hectare cap on SEZs. There will be no land acquisition by force for SEZs in Maharashtra and the Centre's revised policy on the issue would be implemented in the state of Maharashtra. Maharashtra government made it clear that they will follow the 5,000 hectare cap on SEZs as decided by the central goverment. Revised SEZ policy of the Central Government would be implemented "in toto" by the Congress-NCP government in Maharasthra, which accounts for maximum number out of the nearly 250 tax-free economic enclaves approved so far.

The limit put on the size of SEZs was one of the compromises reached at the last meet of Empowered Group of Ministers early this month that led to lifting freeze on them.

Source: Economic Times