Mumbai:
The board of approval for special economic zones has deferred
more than 150 SEZ proposals even as it continued to go
top-speed in granting approvals.
Most of these proposals came directly before the board
and were not backed by the respective state governments,
commerce ministry sources pointed out.
The board has so far approved 236 proposals for setting
up SEZs while it has granted in-principle approval to
169 others. The board has, meanwhile, received about 60
fresh applications, sources added.
"As many as 236 proposals for SEZs have got formal
approval, while in-principle approval has been given to
169 by the board of approval so far. The board has also
deferred 150 proposals during its meetings held since
February," senior commerce ministry officials said.
They said that the proposals were still listed for consideration
as state governments may also put approvals on fast-track.
Some of the cases have been deferred because of delay
in security clearances, they said.
"The cases which come directly to the BoA are referred
back to the state governments for various approvals. The
clearance at the state government-end takes more than
15 days that are given as notice
for the BoA meeting," officials said.
Officials said the security agencies and state governments
are finding it tough to meet the deadline of 15 days for
granting clearance and the ministry has proposed an increase
in clearance period to 30 days at the respective ends.
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