Government allows Parsvnath Infrastructure to surrender IT SEZ

The government has allowed Parsvnath Infra to surrender its IT/ITeS special economic zone in Uttrakhand.

The approval was given by the Board of Approval (BoA), headed by Commerce Secretary SR Rao in its meeting on November 8.

As per the minutes of the meeting, the Board noted that government of Uttarakhand has given its no objection to the denotification proposal of the developer. "After deliberations, the board decided to approve the proposal of Parsvnath Infra Ltd."

However, it said that the approval is subject to the Development Commissioner furnishing a certificate certifying that the developer has "either not availed or has refunded all the tax/duty benefits availed under SEZ Act/Rules".

Parsvnath had approached the BoA to surrender its SEZ saying that Government of Uttarakhand had not come out with its SEZ policy due to which the layout plan of the its zone cannot be approved.

The company had planned to set up the zone in Dehradun. It was to come up in an area of 13.54 hectares and it was notified on September 28, 2007.

The board has also approved the denotification of Mayar Infrastructure Development for its sector specific SEZ for Biotechnology at Gurgaon.

It also said that the issue of granting industrial licence for defence-related items for SEZs and EoUs has now been transfered to the Department of Commerce.

It was earlier being handled by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.

"The matter was examined in the Department of Commerce and it was decided to place all such proposals/requests before BoA for its consideration," it added.

Special Economic Zones (SEZs), which emerged as major export hubs and investment destinations, started loosing sheen after the global economic crisis and a minimum alternate tax was imposed on them.

Exports from these zones declined by 4.1 per cent during the first quarter of the current fiscal.

However, the government is taking steps to revive interest of investors for SEZs. Recently, it had unveiled a package of reforms including easing of land norms to revive investments in SEZs.