SEZ Rules Amended to Attract More Investments, Facilitate Ops

Last Tuesday, the government amended some provisions in the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Rules, 2006, in the hope of attracting more investments and providing greater flexibility in the operations.

- T N C Rajagopalan

The minimum contiguous land area requirement is now reduced from 50 hectares to 10 hectares for setting up SEZs exclusively for manufacturing semiconductors or electronic components including display module subassemblies, various other module sub-assemblies, printed circuit boards, lithium-ion battery cells, mobile and information technology (IT) hardware components, hearables, and wearables.

In Gujarat, SEZs for textiles and textile articles can now be set up with a minimum 4 hectares of contiguous land area. The Board of Approval may relax the condition of encumbrance free area in cases where the land is mortgaged or leased to the central or state government or their authorized agencies.