Confirming the development, Mantralaya sources said the state government was keen to have the Tata group as a joint venture partner for the proposed SEZ.
Sources at Bombay House, the Tata group's headquarters, also said that the group was "in principle, interested in taking part in the SEZ."
State government sources said Tata representatives had had a few meetings with state government officials. However, a meeting of top Tata group executives with Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh was yet to take place.
The chief minister's office is the highest authority for sanctioning investment-related proposals in SEZs. A team led by RK Krishnakumar, director, Tata Sons, is in charge of the SEZ initiative of the group.
The Nashik SEZ ranks among the top zones, in terms of size, announced so far. The size of the SEZ that Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani plans to build across the harbour from India's commercial capital will be 25,000 acre (10121.45 hectare).
The list of other major SEZs include the Mundra SEZ in Gujarat on 2,656 hectare of land, the Mahindra group's SEZ in Pune with a 809-hectare area, and Reliance Industries' 440-hectare SEZ at Jamnagar in Gujarat.
The broad contours of the discussions between the two parties suggested that the Tata group would pick up a 74 per cent stake in the venture, while the remaining 26 per cent would be kept with the government, the Mantralaya sources said.
However, the state government would not infuse funds into the project. "MIDC will get a 26 per cent stake in lieu of the land it provides to the zone," they pointed out. Going by the thumb rule, the total investment in the SEZ might be in the region of Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion).
According to the government sources, the Tata group had also submitted a proposal for participating in the state government's proposed SEZ at Amravati in the Vidarbha region.
