The ministry's decision comes following representations from IT professionals, SEZ developers and other stakeholders.
The relaxation, however, would be allowed in certain specific cases. "...as an exemption it has been decided...that only in respect of employees temporarily de-capacitated and in respect of employees travelling, they may be permitted to work from home or outside the SEZ," the ministry said.
But the ministry made it clear that the resultant export must take place from the premises of the unit in SEZ.
Several IT SEZ developers including DLF, Unitech and Satyam (now Mahindra Satyam) had approached the ministry to seek more time to execute their projects following massive demand slump due to the recent global financial meltdown. Most of the 574 approved SEZs are in the IT and related sectors.