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Center Asks RBI to Give SEZs Infrastructure Status
In a bid to shore up exports which is being hit due to the global meltdown, the Centre has written to the Reserve Bank of India to withdraw special economic zones (SEZs) and industrial parks under the real estate category and bring them under the ambit of infrastructure. The current categorization of SEZs and industrial parks dampened their growth due to which exports have suffered badly, L B Singhal, director general, export promotion council for EOUs and SEZs said at a seminar on SEZs organized by Assocham.
Singhal said a notification in this regard is expected from the RBI soon, following a directive to the central bank issued by the Centre. “In the last 35 years, nearly Rs 8,000 crore worth of exports have taken place from various SEZ’s. However, after the SEZ Act of 2005, export activities through number of SEZs and industrial parks (IPs) were around Rs 66,000 crore and their exports by end of current fiscal would reach over Rs 1 lakh crore,” he said.
The notification, when issued by the RBI would help developers access finance and will help SEZs raise loans at a cheaper rates from domestic banks. Since 2006, loans issued to SEZs were being treated on par with loans given to the commercial real estate sector carrying higher risk weightage than loans provided to the infrastructure sector. Hence the SEZ developers were finding it difficult to tap the local debt market, he said.
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