SEZs exports rose 23% in First Quarter of 2011-12

23 Jul 2011 Evaluate

During the first quarter of current financial year, exports from Special Economic Zones increased by 23%, the total exports from 143 operational SEZs stood at Rs 72, 255 crore.  However, the growth in exports is slower than the aggregate exports from the country in the April to June 2011.  

The growth of shipments from outside SEZs was more than 40%, as the exporters wanted to get the benefits from the Duty Drawback Entitlement (DEPB) Scheme, which is ending on September 30, 2011.Under the DEPB scheme, exporters get refunds of tax rates on the imports of their export products.

As per the data released by Export Promotion Council for EOUs and SEZs (EPCES), during last financial year, exports from SEZs increased by 43% to Rs 3.15 lakh crore compared to Rs 2.2 lakh in the 2009-10. 

Till June, the SEZs provide employment to 7.14 lakh workers and it also attracted investment worth around Rs 2.12 crore. The leading exports from SEZs are IT, IT-hardware, petroleum, engineering, leather and garments. Under the SEZ act of 2005, SEZs get number of incentives for investment and exports, and units also gets number of tax incentives also. Under the SEZ act, SEZ units get 100% tax exemption on profits made by exports for the first five years, 50% of tax exemption for other five years, and another 50% of tax exemption on reinvestment of profits in the coming five years.  

Due to number of incentives on tax and exports, many developers applied for the SEZ projects as they saw investment in SEZ as an opportunity in real estate. However, developers are worried over the recommendation by finance ministry for phasing out the tax incentives for units starting after the 2014. Developers are also worried over the imposition of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) of 18.5% on the book profits of SEZ developers and units within. Additionally, protests from farmers for land acquisition also have delayed many projects.



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