SEZs Continue to Sizzle

May 7, 2009	(Be the first to rate this story!)  Loading ...
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Investments into special economic zones (SEZs) fell by a quarter to Rs 37,000 crore in 2008-09, according to commerce ministry data. Interestingly, almost 50% of the investment in 2008-09 flowed in during the second half of the year, when the economy fell into the grip of a slowdown, a commerce department official said, requesting anonymity. The tax-free manufacturing hubs attracted a Rs 50,000-crore investment in 2007-08, taking the cumulative figure to Rs 1,04,867 crore since February 2006 when SEZ guidelines were notified.

The smooth flow of investments was mainly due to economic activity in the SEZs throughout the year that saw a 36% growth in exports at Rs 90,000 crore against 3.4% growth in the country’s total exports, the official added. Although real estate developer DLF has asked the commerce department to denotify four of its SEZs and about 100 developers have sought more time to make investments, the commerce department expects investments to grow steadily in 2009-10 as several important projects are in the pipeline. The Mundra multi-product SEZ and Reliance Industries’ Jhajjar SEZ are expected to be major investment generators. In fact, Rs 1,00,000 crore is expected to be invested in Mundra SEZ once its power plant is commissioned.

The SEZs continued to generate employment in a year marked with layoffs across sectors. More than 50,000 jobs were created in these zones last fiscal year, taking the total employment figure to 3,87,439 persons. The Union government has approved 568 SEZs as on March 30, 2008. Of the 311 zones notified to start operations, about 90 are functional.

News Published Under:   Special Economic Zones |

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