Govt. proposes new SEZ legislation to ehance exports

Presenting the Budget in Parliament, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, “The Special Economic Zones Act will be replaced with a new legislation that will enable the states to become partners in ‘Development of Enterprise and Service Hubs’. This will cover all large existing and new industrial enclaves to optimally utilise available infrastructure and enhance competitiveness of exports.”
“Alongside, we will also undertake reforms in Customs Administration of SEZs and it shall henceforth be fully IT driven and function on the Customs National Portal with a focus on higher facilitation and with only risk-based checks. This will ease doing business by SEZ units considerably. This reform shall be implemented by 30th September 2022,” the minister said during the speech.
IT industry body NASSCOM said in a tweet, “SEZs have tremendously contributed to India’s exports & created additional employment opportunities. We look forward to the new legislation on SEZ Act as this will lead to holistic development of enterprises and enhance competitive exports.”