Govt cancels approvals of 22 SEZs saying progress "not satisfactory"

New Delhi, June 17 (KNN) The government has cancelled approvals of 22 special economic zones (SEZs) stating that the progress made by the developer is “not satisfactory”.
 
Out of the 22 SEZs, 19 are from IT/ITeS sector, while other sectors include multi-product, engineering, hardware and software.
 
Approval of Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation and True Developers has also been cancelled.
 
The decision was taken in the meeting of the Board of Approval (BoA) headed by Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher on May 19.
 
"The Board examined the 22 cases of the agenda for cancellation of formal approval/notification. The Board noted that the progress made by the developer is not satisfactory.
 
"After deliberations, the Board decided to cancel the formal approval/notification, as the case may be..," the Commerce Ministry said.
 
The ministry further said the developers have to submit a certificate which will certify that they have not availed any tax/duty benefits including service tax exemptions or if availed under SEZ Act/Rules have refunded such benefits.
 
The BoA has also granted more time to as many as 27 SEZ developers to implement their projects.
 
The developers which have got more time includes Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board, Gulf Oil Corporation, Vedanta Aluminium Ltd, Kandla Port Trust and Navi Mumbai SEZ Pvt Ltd. (KNN Bureau)