The government on Monday approved the proposals of Reliance Industries [Get Quote], Wipro [Get Quote], Hewlett Packard and Biocon [Get Quote] to set up Special Economic Zones -- a move that is expected to generate at least 67,000 jobs by March 2006.

The Board of Approval's meeting, chaired by department of commerce additional secretary G K Pillai, cleared various SEZ proposals, including Reliance's 10,000 hectare mega SEZ at Jamnagar in Gujarat.

Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani had made an announcement earlier this year at the Gujarat Global Investors' Summit on the company's proposal to set up an SEZ in the state.

The board, under the commerce ministry, also approved Wipro's proposal for setting up SEZs in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Noida and Pune, official sources said.

However, Wipro's bid to set up an SEZ in Gurgaon and Kolkata was turned down as the proposal was found to be very less.

Among other proposals, which received the government nod include Serum Institute's pharma and biotechnology SEZ in Pune, Hewlett Packard's SEZ for IT and Biocon's biotechnology SEZ in Bangalore.

The board approved a free trade warehousing proposal by Free Trade Warehousing and IL&FS apart from an animation and gaming services SEZ by Kinfra in Kerala.