The Commerce Ministry has initiated the exercise to facilitate ease of doing business for special economic zones (SEZs) to revive the interest of investors after Finance Ministry in the budget turned down request for removal of minimum alternate tax (MAT) and dividend distribution tax (DDT). Among several measures being contemplated, the Ministry plans to empower the Development Commissioners (DCs) of such zones to reduce paper work. The Ministry for this is also mulling to empower the unit approval committees (UACs) so that a developer or unit would not have to approach the Board of Approval (BoA) for permissions and approvals every time.
Currently, unit in SEZs have to approach the BoA, chaired by the Commerce Secretary, for small things like constructing additional gates or bringing a new co-developer. Nevertheless, these efforts by the ministry would definitely help in further strengthening the single window clearance mechanism of UACs headed by DCs.
Further, the ministry for deliberating upon the slew of measures would be convening a meeting of senior officials of the states including Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. So far, 491 proposals for SEZs have been formally approved by the government. Presently, 199 zones are operational. The maximum of 36 SEZs are operational in Tamil Nadu, followed by 25 each in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Telangana, 19 in Andhra Pradesh and 18 in Gujarat.
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