The country's largest real estate player, DLF, on Friday said it has approached the government for surrendering four of its IT-ITeS notified special economic zones (SEZ).
The government has also ruled out the need for an amendment to the SEZ Act, as was demanded by Left parties.
While announcing the launch of Estancia three months ago, the promoters had said they would earmark about Rs 600 crore to develop an IT park inside Estancia.
Real estate and hotels major Royal Palms will invest around Rs 600 crore (Rs 6 billion) to set up an IT/ITeS special economic zone in Mumbai that would be ready for occupation by end of next year.
Approaches Morgan Stanley, GIC and Blackstone
Special economic zones dedicated to the infotech sector may receive a body blow if the tax exemptions provided to Software Technology Parks of India under Section 10(A) and 10(B) of the Income Tax Act are extended beyond March 31, 2009. According to a senior central government official, not more than half of the nearly 100 notified infotech SEZs will survive if the tax sops are extended.
A possible solution would be to set them up in the barren land or in land with low agricultural productivity.
Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Tata Sons Ltd, will invest Rs 3,500 crore (Rs 35 billion) in setting up an information technology Special Economic Zone at Taramani, Chennai. The project will have both commercial and residential projects.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked the Finance Ministry to remove a flaw in the tax laws, which would help IT/ITeS SEZs, even as the government is considering relaxing rules for tax-free enclaves across sectors on sales in the domestic market.
Six infotech special economic zone projects of the Unitech Group, which owns the country's second-biggest real estate company, have been delayed by as much as three years owing to slowing demand and delays in government approvals, sources said.
The Board of Approval on Tuesday cleared 10 special economic zone proposals, including three Mukesh Ambani-promoted IT zones in Navi Mumbai.
Parsvnath SEZ Ltd -- the subsidiary of Parsvnath Developers -- now has two notified SEZs for IT/ITES sectors at Indore and Gurgaon with a combined developable area of over 16 million square feet.
Nuziveedu Seeds Ltd has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation to establish an IT/ITeS special economic zone at Shollinganallur, on Chennai's IT corridor, at an investment of Rs 1,500 crore.
Reeling under a cash crunch, the country's largest real estate player, DLF, has approached the government on surrendering its (DLF's) five of the nine IT-ITeS notified special economic zones (SEZ).
The West Bengal government on Thursday said it has received applications for 21 SEZs in the IT sector, of which six were in the final stage of approval. A SEZ set up by Wipro was already functioning in the state, while the other six can take up construction soon. A wireless technology research centre was being set up at Calcutta University. Commenting on WB's progress, State IT Minister Debesh Das said starting IT in 1999-2000 by 2005-06 the state witnessed 17-fold increase.
The multi-product SEZ will bring in more than Rs 2.11 lakh crore of net foreign exchange in 30 years.
Leading real estate firm Unitech's investment arm Unitech Corporate Parks Plc on Monday said it has received nod from the Board of Approvals for establishment of IT Special Economic Zones at Greater Noida and Kolkata.
Sources familiar with the project said the SPV's promoters were looking at raising the additional capital to acquire up to 250 acres at Thane to complete the first phase of the SEZ project, for which IL&FS is an advisor. Inox Infrastructure Private Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gujarat Fluorochemicals Ltd, holds 50 per cent stake in Megnasolace.
The IT and IT-enabled services companies will be provided space in the proposed SEZ. The proposal awaits final approval from the Board of Approval. SIDCUL has been appointed the nodal agency for the proposed IT SEZ which would invite Expression of Interests from top reputed companies. The sources said top IT multinational companies like Infosys could be invited for the development of the IT SEZ, which is being set up over 14.2 hectares.
Raheja's IT SEZ planned at Verna industrial estate had faced stern opposition from the locals and the state government even after it was notified by the Union commerce ministry's board of approval. The state government has written to the Union commerce ministry seeking to denotify Raheja's SEZ along with two others.
Unitech Corporate Parks Plc, the real estate investment company listed on London's Alternative Investment Market in which developer Unitech Ltd holds a 40 per cent stake, has decided to put one of its largest assets in India on the block with a valuation of Rs 3,000 crore.
In the March quarter analysts' presentation, the company had said it was targeting to raise a total of Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) from non-core asset sales in the medium term.
Around 55 per cent of land in the 36 operational special economic zones (SEZs) in Tamil Nadu is lying vacant owing to various reasons, including the recent economic slowdown.
SEZs account for just about a third of India's merchandise exports (and roughly the same proportion of services exports). Yet, the notion of creating global manufacturing centres of the kind that propelled China to superpowerdom retains a durable appeal within the Indian policy-making establishment, notes Kanika Datta.
Nasdaq-listed Infosys has said it was the failure of the state government in fulfilling the agreed conditions that led to the delay in executing its 448-acre IT Special Economic Zone project in Hyderabad.
The government on Wednesday relaxed its policy for IT SEZs and allowed the employees to carry out their duties even from home.
It was difficult to set up a unified zone on the SEZ land.
However, the board of approval in the commerce ministry asked the DLF to return all the tax sops it had taken from the Centre before its SEZs in Gujarat, West Bengal, Orissa and Haryana could be denotified. The BoA, headed by commerce secretary G K Pillai, also allowed more time to the K Raheja group to build its tax-free zones in Goa, Hyderabad and Navi Mumbai, an official said.
Despite the slowdown and the poll debacle state IT minister is still upbeat about attracting investments in the IT sector.
The decision was taken by an inter-ministerial Board of Approval.
EmaarMGF Land, a joint venture between Emaar Properties PJSC of Dubai and MGF Developments of India, is planning to invest $3 billion (Rs 12,000 crore) in 10 locations across south India over the next few years.
Three special economic zones promoted by Mukesh Ambani and Anand Jain in Navi Mumbai are among among 36 proposals that got cleared by the Board of Approval on Friday.
"ITIRs were conceptualised keeping in view the need to boost the growth of both IT/IT enabled services (ITeS) and Electronic Hardware Manufacturing (EHM) units," an official statement said. These regions would become major magnets for investment, creating employment opportunities and economic growth in the area while reducing the pressure on existing urban centres by enabling growth of new townships, it added. The ITIRs will be much larger than IT SEZs.
Infosys had paid Rs 75 crore (Rs 750 million) for buying 50 acres from the government.
Under its IT/ITeS SEZ development plan, Electronic Corporation of Tamil Nadu (Elcot) is setting up nine IT SEZs in Tamil Nadu, developing 1 million sq ft space at an estimated cost of Rs 28,000-30,000 crore (Rs 280-300 billion) - one each at Perumbakkam village and Sholinganallur near Chennai, two in Madurai, and one each at Tiruchirapalli (Trichy), Krishnagiri, Salem, Coimbatore and Tirunelveli.
Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and other ministers like to boast that of the 450 SEZs coming up in the country, nearly 120 are in Maharashtra. However, since most of the SEZs are single product or IT SEZ, land acquisition is not much of an issue. But in the case of six SEZs, which are multi-product SEZs and where over 1,000 hectares of land have to be acquired, it is proving to be an albatross around the state government's neck.
The Board of Approvals on Wednesday gave final clearance to 15 Special Economic Zones but deferred a decision on the Navi Mumbai zone promoted by Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani and Anand Jain.
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