The government has cancelled its approvals to 27 special economic zones (SEZ), and has given more time to 18 others to execute their projects.

The decision was taken by inter-ministerial Board of Approval (BoA) headed by Commerce Secretary, Rajeev Kher.

The Board has noted that the progress made by the 27 developers was not satisfactory and it has examined a total of 43 cases for cancellation.

The Board noted that in the 14 cases relating to Deccan Infrastructure and Land Holdings and one case relating to AP Markfed, the DC VSEZ has requested that the proposals for cancellation may be deferred in view of the scenario arising out of bifurcation of the state of Andhra Pradesh and creation of the new state of Telangana.

Those which received more time include DLF Info Park (Pune) for its IT/ITeS zone in Maharashtra; Navi Mumbai SEZ for setting up of a multi-product zone; Indiabulls Industrial Infrastructure for its multi-product SEZ in Maharashtra; and Gulf Oil Corporation for setting up of sector specific SEZ in Karnataka.