SME Times News Bureau | 10 Jan, 2020
Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal on Thursday
chaired a meeting in New Delhi to review the remaining recommendations of the
Baba Kalyani report on Special Economic Zone (SEZ) policy of India.
The meeting was attended by members of the Baba
Kalyani group along with representatives from the Department of Revenue,
Department of Legal Affairs and legal firms.
Commerce and Industry Minister examined the
revamp of the SEZ policy with a view to meeting the global challenges being
faced by Indian exporters.
Discussions were also held to find a way out for
implementation of the remaining recommendations in order to facilitate the ease
of doing business in the present global market scenario.
The recommendations which have been completed
include review of specific exclusions proposed in NFE computation in light of
Make in India initiative, sharing of duty exempted assets/ infrastructure
between units to be allowed against specific approval, and formalization of
de-notification process for enclaves and delinking its present mandatory usage
for SEZs purpose only.
The other implemented recommendations are support
to servicification of manufacturing zone, allowing manufacturing enabling
services companies, broad-banding definition of services/allowing multiple
services to come together and flexibility to enter into a long term lease
agreement with stakeholders in Zones in line with the State policies and the
application for constructing minimum built up area by Developer or Co-developer
beyond a period of ten years from the date of notification of the SEZ on merits
of each case..
Other changes and initiatives taken for the SEZs
include delegation of powers to Development Commissioner for shifting of SEZ
unit from one zone to another, supplies of services in DTA against foreign
exchange or Indian Rupees to be counted towards NFE, enable a trust to be
considered for grant of permission to set-up a unit in a SEZ, setting up of
cafeteria, gymnasium, creche and other similar facilities/ amenities and
uniform list of services to SEZ.
The Baba Kalyani led committee was constituted by
the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to study the existing SEZ policy of India
and had submitted its recommendations in November 2018.
The objectives of the committee were to evaluate
the SEZ policy and make it WTO compatible, suggest measures for maximizing
utilization of vacant land in SEZs, suggest changes in the SEZ policy based on
international experience and merge the SEZ policy with other Government schemes
like coastal economic zones, Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor, national
industrial manufacturing zones and food and textile parks.
If India is on the path to become a USD 5
trillion economy by 2025 then the present environment of manufacturing
competitiveness and services have to undergo a basic paradigm shift. The
success seen in services sector like IT and ITeS have to be promoted in other
services sectors like health care, financial services, legal, repair and design
services.
The Government of India has set a target of
creating 100 million jobs and achieving 25% of GDP from the manufacturing
sector by 2022, as part of the flagship Make in India programme.
Further, the Government plans to increase
manufacturing value to USD 1.2 trillion by 2025. While these plans are intended
to propel India into a growth trajectory, it requires evaluation of existing
policy frameworks to catalyse manufacturing sector growth.
At the same time, policy needs to be compliant
with the relevant WTO regulations.