With a comprehensive SEZ Act in place, the Union Commerce and Industry minister Kamal Nath said his ministry would go ahead with the plans to develop SEZs across the country, despite oppositions from the finance ministry.
The finance ministry had recently informed Parliament that the country may have to face losses exceeding Rs 1 lakh crore (Rs 1 trillion) by 2009-10 due to tax holidays to SEZs.
"It's not whether or not we look into the matter now. The finance ministry should have brought all this to our notice before the Act was passed. Now we would go ahead with our plans for SEZs," Nath said in Kolkata on November 25.
Nath also emphasised effective usage of the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Act, 2006.
Nath said that this Act, if properly enforced, would strengthen the existence of SMEs in the country and also ensure ease of business for them.
Nath was speaking on the sidelines of 106th annual general meeting of Bharat Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata.
Santosh Rungta, the retiring president of the Chamber, said that SMEs should be supported with a regulatory mechanism for effective implementation of the various provisions of the MSMED Act. Referring to the new SEZ legislation for facilitating increased capital inflow, Rungta said that restriction on acquisition of land is one of the
practical constraints in organisation of SEZs.
"Besides, instead of acquisition of agricultural land for setting up SEZs, economic spatial planning by the government should focus on use of waste land and large tracts of under-utilised land that, at present, belong to various government departments and industrial corporations and are lying defunct," Rungta said.
Rungta also pointed out that instead of deserting the IT parks and STPIs in the face of SEZ development in the country, tax concessions and other incentives enjoyed by companies in SEZs should be made available to the existing IT parks and STPIs which are not located in SEZs.
Highlighting the development potentials of West Bengal, Rungta urged for infrastructure development in terms of development of ports and road network in West Bengal.
"The state government's proposals for setting-up a deep sea port and modernising Kolkata airport with a new international terminal should be put on a fast track," Rungta said.
Mentioning the imperatives of development of the iron and steel industry, Rungta spoke about a policy for availability of iron ore for the processors, as there appears some confusion regarding transfer of iron ore from the mining states to other states.
Mentioning the hopes for trade with China after re-opening of the trade route through Nathula Pass , Rungta suggested that a world trade center be put up at Siliguri in view of its strategic location with regard to the entry point of Nathula Pass, as well as for being the hinterland for Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sikkim.