The Board of Approval for SEZs on 21 September 2006 gave its in-principle approval to 14 SEZs, taking the total number of SEZs approved so far to 164. (See table below) Out of this, 25 SEZs have been notified.  (An SEZ is said to be notified, when the entire land for the project is identified.) The BoA is expected to clear over 200 proposals over the next fortnight.

The BoA also prescribed minimum investment or net worth of the promoter company in the SEZs. Accordingly, sector-specific SEZ developers must bring in a minimum investment of Rs.250 crore or have net worth of Rs.50 crore. For multi-product SEZs, minimum investment was set at Rs.1,000 crore and net worth, Rs.250 crore.

The BoA clarified that as much as 65 per cent of the area would be provided for social infrastructure like parks, recreations club, etc., leaving 35 per cent area for processing activities. Houses being built within the zones by developers would be need-based; the BoA would not allow their resale. The owners could be given right to sub-lease the same.

Developers of sector-specific SEZs can build a maximum of 7,500 houses, a 100-room hotel, a 25-bed hospital, and have office space, retail stores and multiplexes up to 50,000 sq m, while a multi-product SEZ developer can build a maximum of 25,000 houses, a 250-room hotel, a 100-bed hospital and office space, retail stores and multiplexes of 200,000 sq m.

Also See:

BoA to take up SEZ proposals on 29 Sep (15-Sep-06)