India Panel Nears Finish on SEZ 2.0 Roadmap
The committee's proposals seek to revive exports and jobs by loosening SEZ rules, harmonising incentives and suggesting legal changes to the SEZ law.
Overview
- A 17-member government committee, constituted in March under the Commerce Secretary, is finalising a comprehensive SEZ 2.0 roadmap and will submit recommendations to the commerce ministry shortly.
- The review followed industry consultations held in late June and drew input from NITI Aayog, the CBIC and development commissioners to ensure legal and World Trade Organization alignment.
- Reported options include letting SEZ units perform job work for the domestic tariff area without export links, allowing rupee invoicing for services, and pursuing targeted import-substitution measures.
- The committee plans short-, medium- and long-term policy and procedural reforms and may propose amendments to the SEZ Act and Rules to remove distortions with schemes like EOUs and warehouse-based manufacturing.
- Reforms respond to weak SEZ performance—India has 276 operational SEZs with over 6,000 units and exports from the zones have fallen sharply—so changes aim to boost manufacturing capacity, investment and employment.