SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES - AN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE
A Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is a geographical region that has economic laws that are more liberal than a country's typical economic laws. The category 'SEZ' covers a broad range of more specific zone types, including Free Trade Zones (FTZ), Export Processing Zones (EPZ), Free Zones (FZ), Industrial Estates (IE), Free Ports, Urban Enterprise Zones and others. Usually the goal of a structure is to increase foreign direct investment by foreign investors, typically an international business or a multinational corporation (MNC).
Today, there are approximately
3,000 SEZs operating in 120 countries, which account for over US$ 600 billion in exports and about 50 million jobs. By offering privileged terms, SEZs attract investment and foreign exchange, spur employment and boost the development of improved technologies and infrastructure.
There are 13 functional SEZs and about
61 SEZs, which have been approved and are under the process of establishment in India.
The SEZ policy was first introduced in India in April 2000, as a part of the Export-Import ("EXIM") policy of India. Considering the need to enhance foreign investment and promote exports from the country and realizing the need that level playing field must be made available to the domestic enterprises and manufacturers to be competitive globally, the Government of India in April 2000 announced the introduction of Special Economic Zones policy in the country deemed to be foreign territory for the purposes of trade operations, duties and tariffs.
ADMINISTRATIVE SET UP FOR SEZS:
SEZs is governed by a three tier administrative set up
a) The Board of Approval is the apex body in the Department,
b) The Unit Approval Committee at the Zonal level dealing with approval of units in the SEZs and other related issues, and
c) Each Zone is headed by a Development Commissioner, who also heads the Unit Approval Committee.
