Amid the brouhaha over special economic zones and their viability, the Economic Survey has made more room for dissent by suggesting the need to check the proliferation of these tax-free zones in the country.
The annual economic progress card, however, also pointed out that exports from SEZs have been steadily increasing.
"Another major policy issue in the trade sector which created a lot of heat was that of SEZs... Some fundamental policy changes are needed for the merchandise trade sector and these include checking the proliferation of SEZs," the pre- Budget Economic Survey, tabled in Parliament on Thursday, said.
The Survey pointed out that exports from the tax-free zones have been steadily increasing. Exports from the zones in 2006-07 stood at Rs 34,615 crore (Rs 346.15 billion), registering a growth of 52 per cent from Rs 22,840 crore (Rs 228.4 billion) in the year-ago period.
"Projected exports for 2007-08 from SEZs is Rs 67,088 crore (Rs 670.88 billion)," it said.
The Survey further said while apprehension has been expressed on misuse of the scheme and relocation of existing industries into SEZs, "experience has shown that these apprehensions are ill-founded