The government in this year’s general budget had proposed to replace the existing law governing SEZs with a new one, so that states can become partners in ‘development of enterprise and service centres’ (country).
Amit Yadav, Additional Secretary in the Commerce Department, said at a function here, “The country bill will increase the manufacturing base… will give more flexibility than the existing system. We are working on that part of it.”
The existing SEZ Act, was brought in 2006 to create export hubs and boost manufacturing in the country. However, these sectors began to lose their luster after the introduction of the Minimum Alternate Tax and the abolition of certain tax incentives.
Exports from these sectors grew by 32 per cent to about Rs 2.9 lakh crore during April-June in the current financial year.
Regarding the free trade agreement with Australia, Yadav said that the process of preparing the treaty is going on in Australia. The Parliament there has to decide about this.
“The Australian side has said many times about this that there is no impediment to getting it approved,” he said.
The India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) was signed in April this year and requires the approval of the Australian Parliament to be implemented.
Source: navbharattimes.indiatimes.com
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