The government has approved the proposal of Infosys to set up an IT/ITeS special economic zone in Bengaluru in an area spread over 4 hectares. The decision was taken by an inter-ministerial Board of Approval (BoA), headed by Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia. The Board also granted more time to as many as 20 developers to complete their projects. Those that got additional time include Mayar Infrastructure Development for a biotechnology SEZ in Haryana, Wipro for IT SEZ in Karnataka and Vedanta for its sector-specific SEZ for manufacturing and exports of aluminium in Odisha.

The Board has also approved application of Unitech Realty Project for change of name of the developer to Candor Gurgaon One Developers and Projects and also change in shareholding pattern of the company. But the approval is subject to certain conditions such as seamless continuity of SEZ activity with unilateral responsibilities and obligations for the altered developer entity, and “full financial details relating to change in equity/merger, demerger, amalgamation or transfer in ownership etc shall be furnished immediately to Member (IT), CBDT, Department of Revenue and to the jurisdictional authority”.

SEZs are export hubs that contribute about 23 per cent to the country’s total exports. Exports from such zones in 2014-15 stood at Rs 4,63,770 crore compared with Rs 4,94,077 crore in 2013-14.