Open house meet of EOUs and SEZs to be held in Jaipur

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SME Times News Bureau | 25 Jan, 2013
EPCES, in association with Noida Special Economic Zone, had organized an Open House Meet of EOUs and SEZs on January 24 at Jaipur, Dy.Director General, Export Promotion Council for EOUs and SEZs (EPCES), O. P. Kapoor informed on Thursday.

The Open House Meet was attended by Naveen Mahajan, Managing Director, Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation Ltd. (RIICO), Rajesh Yadav, Commissioner (Industries), Government of Rajasthan, Sidharth Mahajan, Commissioner (Bureau of Investment Promotion), Government of Rajasthan

P.C. Nambiar, Chairman, EPCES informed that at present, there are approx. 6000 operational EOUs and SEZs spread all over the country. Out of which, 1368 are from Noida SEZ. The Government has so far formally approved 586 SEZs. Out of which, 385 SEZs have been notified and 160 SEZs are in operation.

He said that all 10 SEZs from Rajasthan, which have been formally approved, have been notified. These SEZs are from IT/ ITES, Electronic Hardware & Software, Textiles, Engineering, Handicrafts, Gem & Jewellery

P.C. Nambiar, Chairman, EPCES further informed that at the time of setting up of this Council the total exports from EOU/ SEZ sector was to the extent of Rs.33,647 crore, which has risen to Rs.4,43,421 crore in 2011-12 representing a remarkable growth of over 12 times with a contribution of 31 percent to national exports. The sector provides employment to approx. 14 lakhs people in the country and investments worth Rs.2,32,000 crores have been made in this sector.

Nambiar further informed that recently he had the opportunity to attend a Pre-Budget Consultations Meeting with Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on 16th January wherein he had strongly taken up the issue of imposition of MAT on SEZs and requested for early implementation of recommendations of Committee set up for revamping of EOU Scheme.

"The imposition of MAT last year has impacted SEZs growth adversely. Direct Tax Code has grand-fathering provisions for SEZs. Since introduction of DTC will take some more time, I have made a request to abolish MAT on SEZs till DTC is introduced. Similarly, the grand-fathering provisions of proposed DTC may be extended to all those SEZs which are notified as of 31.3.2015".

Nambiar said that EPCES has so far organized 37 Open House Meets all over the country and as a result a large number of issues have been resolved.

Development Commissioner, Noida SEZ Jayant Misra informed that such type of Meets are very useful for them as well as exporting community as these meetings provide an opportunity for a direct interaction between the senior officers of State & Central Government and EOUs and SEZs.

A.K. Jain, Vice-Chairman, EPCES informed that as and when Council organizes such meetings, the results are always very useful for increasing exports from the country. He further said that Council will continue to organize such type of Open House Meets in other States also.