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).
Rajasthan's chief minister Vasundhara Raje on Wednesday laid the foundation stone for setting up an IT/ITES SEZ by Somani Worsted Ltd and manufacturing facilities of Jaquar Ltd and Orient Craft Ltd in Bhiwadi. Digamber Singh, Rajasthan's minister of industries, was also present on the occasion.
According to a department notification, Tech Mahindra has approached the Board of Approvals under the Department of Commerce for transferring rights of three SEZs (one in Tamil Nadu and two in Andhra Pradesh) and the proposal will come up for a discussion before the BoA on August 30.
With the fate of the Development Enterprise and Services Hub (DESH) Bill in limbo, the commerce department is working towards tweaking some rules under the existing special economic zone (SEZ) law to allow use of unutilised spaces in IT/ITES for non-SEZ purposes. The move, when implemented, will free-up the land area that is not in demand through partial de-notification of certain floors or buildings, thereby allowing easier exit. "The department of commerce is discussing the matter with the revenue department before making changes in the Special Economic Zone Act, 2005," a person aware of the matter
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.
No more than 62% of farmland acquired for Special Economic Zones has been used for its intended purpose of boosting manufacturing, exports and jobs
The board would take a decision on these applications on February 20.
The government on Tuesday cleared nine fresh proposals for setting up special economic zones, most of which are related to IT and ITES, followed by the bio-technology sector.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Board of Approvals held at New Delhi.
The IT and ITeS sectors expect a reduction in minimum alternate tax (MAT) and dividend distribution tax in the next month's Union Budget, a senior economist said on Tuesday.
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.
The decision regarding this was taken by the Board of Approval in its meeting on September 18.
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).
Mumbai-based Zoom Developers, engaged in diversified businesses including real estate, plans to invest Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) in the next three years to construct a 100 hectare IT-ITeS special economic zone at Indore.
Clamping down on the delays in repatriating foreign exchange earnings, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has tightened norms for special economic zones (SEZs), asking them to realise and bring back full value of goods and services to India within a year from the date of export.
The decision was taken by an inter-ministerial Board of Approval.
The decision was taken in the meeting of the Board of Approval headed by Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher on September 18.
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 board of approval, headed by commerce secretary G K Pillai, will also consider requests from realty major DLF for de-notification of its IT-ITeS SEZs in Gujarat, Haryana, West Bengal and Orissa. Larsen and Toubro has proposed to set up an IT SEZ in Mumbai, while Gulf Oil Corporation has moved application for a similar tax-free zone in Bangalore.
The Development Commissioners have recommended to the Board of Approval to cancel these SEZ projects.
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.
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.
Gujarat may have missed the IT/ITES bus earlier, but the two upcoming IT/ITES SEZs by K Raheja Corp and DLF are all set to drive the growth of the industry here. As many as 50 companies are likely to set up shops in the two parks coming up in Gandhinagar.
In 2011, the Trinamool manifesto had said, the government would not allow SEZs in West Bengal, to protect multi-crop lands.
This move to sell a part of its land holding in one of its SEZ is part of an overall move by GMR to exit some of its assets as part of its 'asset light -- asset right' strategy.
The Customs clearance required for moving equipment like laptops, desktops, etc out of SEZ units was delaying things as the clearance had to be taken in person after a first level of approval online.
IT services giant Infosys will start construction of a proposed software development centre in the metropolis by July 2021, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday. The project will generate massive employment in the IT sector, she said after a cabinet meeting at the state secretariat.
The Finance Minister is slated to announce on Thursday the budget proposals for the next fiscal.
Despite the slowdown and the poll debacle state IT minister is still upbeat about attracting investments in the IT sector.
The government has created a comprehensive budget with sharp focus on sustaining economic activity and investment but more clarity is needed on areas like taxation framework for adopting remote working on a long-term basis, IT body Nasscom said on Monday. The industry association noted that the IT/ITeS (Information Technology-enabled Services) industry has been a key driver of growth and jobs in 2020 and there is an opportunity to significantly accelerate it further. "For the IT sector, one of the biggest needs ahead of us is the development of future business models, with hybrid working becoming a reality. "We look forward for the government to provide clarity on providing a framework in direct taxes and indirect taxes for the industry to adopt WFH/remote working on a long-term basis," Nasscom said in a statement.
According to Nasscom, India must make its R&D significantly more robust to realise the 'Make in India' dream
Having cleared over 200 special economic zone proposals, the Board of Approval will take up 46 fresh cases on Friday.
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.
Genpact opens offices in Kolkata on 700,000 sq.ft of land and plans to employ 7000 people.
"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.
Sectors that attracted maximum FDI include services, trading, automobile and power.
