SEZ in India
The largest democracy of the world with population in excess of 1 billion, India represents itself as one of the BRIC economies of the world that, by 2050, is going to develop to be larger than the richest economies of the world today. In a step ahead towards becoming a superpower, India considers the need to enhance foreign investment and promote exports from the country and realising the need that a level playing field must be made available to the domestic enterprises and manufacturers to be competitive globally, The Government of India had in April 2000 announced the introduction of Special Economic Zones policy in the country, deemed to be foreign territory for the purposes of trade operations, duties and tariffs. As of 2007, more than 500 SEZs have been proposed, 220 of which have been created. The SEZ policy provides for setting up of SEZs in the public, private, joint sector or by State Governments. It was also envisaged that some of the existing Export Processing Zones would be converted into Special Economic Zones. SEZ in India can be categorized into two categories:
Functional SEZ:
SEZ set up prior to SEZ Act, 2005
SEZ notified under the SEZ Act, 2005
Approved SEZ :