The government has approved three special economic zones and was considering granting approval for setting up 14 SEZs, Commerce and Industry Minister Arun Shourie informed the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
Shourie said the greenfield SEZs were being set up largely in the private sector in association with the state governments and were in the nature of large infrastructure projects with long gestation periods.
Several measures had been taken up to promote SEZs. These were procurement of goods for their development, operation and maintenance, external commercial borrowing without any maturity restriction, income tax holiday for five years and 50 per cent tax exemption for two years thereafter, he said.
UNI