Nasscom welcomes GoM decision on SEZ

NEW DELHI: “Nasscom today welcomed the reported

decision of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on the issue of minimum area

required for setting up Special Economic Zones (SEZs).






According to a Nasscom statement, "We are particularly pleased with the
doing away of the minimum land area requirement for IT SEZs, as suggested by

Nasscom. This will be of special benefit to SMEs in the IT sector who will no

longer be at the mercy of SEZ builders and developers, and will be better placed

to negotiate appropriate rates for space."






The new rules stipulate that the specified built up area will be linked to the
size of the city. This recognizes that for knowledge services, human resource

availability is the basic requirement.






The earlier rules of the SEZ Act prescribe that a sector specific SEZ for IT
industry should have a minimum area of 10 hectares (25 acres) and a built-up

area of 10,00,000 sq. feet.






With its amendment, the new SEZ scheme is now more favourable for the Indian
ITES and BPO sectors. In keeping with Nasscom's thrust, it will ensure growth

of the sector is not limited only to metro cities but also spreads to smaller

towns. The industry will now also be able to maximize employment across the

country thus enabling much more equitable development of different regions,

while minimising the strain on infrastructure of already stretched cities.






The industry would yet suggest that the country capitalize and replicate the
success of the STPI model (virtual SEZs), which has led to IT software and

services being India's number one export sector ($ 24 billion last year). This

model is particularly helpful to start-ups and SMEs, and we hope that it will

yet be considered separately, independent of the SEZ scheme.”






Nasscom had earlier recommended that the land area be dropped and that the
requirement for built up area be reduced. Nasscom has also recommended the

continuance of the STPI scheme for a few years, allowing for an orderly phasing

in of the SEZ scheme.






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