Sez act 2005 pdf

Directions by Central Government. Returns and reports. Power to supersede Authority. Members, officers and other employees of Authority to be public servants. Reference of dispute. Applicability of provisions of this Act to existing Special Economic Zones. Person to whom a communication may be sent under this Act. Identity Card. Authorities responsible for administration. Protection of action taken in good faith. Power to modify provisions of this Act or other enactments in relation to Special Economic Zones.

Power of State Government to grant exemption. Act to have overriding effect. Certain provisions not to apply. Special Economic Zones to be ports, airports, inland container depots, land stations, etc. Rawat Vidya Bhushan et al In the survey, respondents claimed that evictions were carried out in a coercive manner with little consideration of the negative impacts on the affected.

It is claimed that in some cases, trees were felled and crops destroyed so that the villagers would provide less resistance to the land acquisition. Tantri Malini It is observed that the relatively better performing zones are those that are located in developed states rather than in less developed states. This indicates that regional disparity is not only reflected in SEZ performance, but also that they could hardly address such imbalance.

Further, the intensity of problems is likely to be magnified considering the concentration of newly notified SEZs in a few regions within a few developed states. The size of a zone does not seem to play as an important role in its performance as the concentration of exporting units and sectoral composition. Despite their status as separate economic entities with privileges and benefits not available to rest of the economy, these enclaves were equally susceptible to changing fortunes of the world economy.

Riding on the preferential policy bestowed by the central government, the SEZ has experienced extraordinary growth. Michael Levien While one could imagine a society in which the disjuncture between the slots created by accumulation and the position of those being dispossessed for it was not so great, perhaps making accumulation by dispossession less traumatic, this paper suggests that under the current political—economic conditions and trajectory of India, this process is likely to deprive the poor of productive assets and food security, amplify existing class and caste inequalities, and reproduce exploitative social forms while generating rentier and non-labour-intensive production that will marginalize or only precariously employ the dispossessed.

Seshadri Triyakshana The motivations and location choices of these zones also vary between countries. Some zones such as the Mexican maquiladoras and Shenzhen in China have utilized proximity to trading partners the US and Hong Kong respectively to develop the region. Others such as Kandla in India and Bataan in the Phillippines were established in remote areas to follow regional development goals. However, irrespective of the motivation for the development of zones, they have had mixed results with respect to increasing exports, employment and income.

A Abdul Raheem SEZ is having an impact on human development through three broad channels: employment generation, skill human capital formation and technology upgradation. However, the relationship between poverty and employment lies in the extent to which income generated from employment permits workers and their dependents to obtain goods and services necessary to meet minimum needs.

Poverty reduction thus calls for the creation of remunerative, regular and good-quality jobs in the labour market. SEZs, if promoted vigorously can therefore act as an initiator in the process of human development and poverty alleviation in India. The role of SEZs in human capital formation appears to be relatively limited.

On one hand, India intends to emerge as a super power by but on the other hand, it would have third rate labour with deteriorating economic conditions with no income security employment security or social security in SEZs which may become industrial enclaves with super profits.

The incentives to SEZs are disproportionate to the incremental benefits that may accrue to the nation. There is a need to impose stiffer obligations on the SEZs to justify the incentives. The sense of injustice expressed by the protesters seems to center not only on the surplus value and other price issues, but the fact that the SEZ policy appears to systematically benefit large developers and industrialists through the consolidation of land, wealth, and market share.

It is less easy to see the public benefits, the reciprocity of advantage, of these ostensibly public projects, particularly in the short term. The sense of injustice expressed by protestors may also stem from the fact that SEZs and other infrastructure projects do not generally benefit small or medium sized enterprises in the development stage. In fact, empirical evidence supports this hypothesis. This point scheme for Developers is similar to the point scheme suggested above for Units.

Under such a scheme. Developers would be required to meet a minimum "Community Inclusivity" points threshold to be eligible to operate in an SEZ.

Developers would accrue points for taking various measures that include previous landowners in the development and operation of the SEZ, such as employing these previous landowners, involving them in management, and extending equity ownership to them. To mitigate the financial loss incurred by the Government on the SEZ policy, Units should be subject to meeting export targets.

Tantri Malini A scrutiny of the newly approved SEZs in the country further mirrors the mal- adjustment not only in terms of sectoral composition but also in terms of SEZ approval across the states. It is clear that the developed states have received maximum approval and the backward states are lagging even in attracting the attention of investors. This, thereby, indicates the problem of regional disparity, which may aggravate in future if adequate remedial measures are not initiated.

There is a need to restructure the SEZ scheme in the country, specifically by identifying the problems and prospects in expansion rather than just multiplying the number of such project approval and extending liberal incentive schemes. Wei Ge The effort of SEZ operation needs to be accompanied by policies that address the factors affecting the coefficient of horizontal linkage.

Enhancing education; developing institutional and regulatory framework to facilitate technological diffusion and imitation; encouraging foreign SEZ firms to establish business links with their domestic counterparts; and improving information infrastructure and exchange are some of the areas that deserve policy attentions. As the study shows, the concept of SEZ, when implemented properly and treated as an integral component of a comprehensive policy package, may serve as an effective means of promoting greater economic openness and growth.

Sharma Surendra SEZ existing policy allows for purchase of goods from domestic companies for development, operation and maintenance of SEZ units. This provision can be fine- tuned with some additional specific incentive linked to such activities which may be product and region specific.

Dabas Ajay The reasons for delay and sometimes scrapping of the projects under the scheme can be attributed mainly to lack of foresight while formulating the policy and additional taxes imposed by the Finance Ministry. The rising cost of land acquisition coupled with the new taxation structure made a huge dent on the business viability and profitability of SEZ. Most operating SEZs saw a dwindling of their net margins by 8 to 10 per cent as a result of the new taxation policy.

In India, SEZs are the culmination of a long transformation of the state or states to be more precise toward becoming the chief land broker for capital.

The SEZ developer is a state-appointed capitalist landlord who receives windfall returns by commodifying artificially cheap land expropriated from farmers.

This would help small and mid-sized entities which cannot afford to set up captive infrastructure facilities like large Indian companies to house their units in SEZs with state of the art infrastructure facilities and at the same time share the costs in a large group. And, importantly, coordination among multiple agencies with the common goal for facilitating SEZ is urgent to prevent hijacking the legislative framework by will of regulatory bodies.

Lessons from China in regard to location of SEZs close to ports, determination of size of SEZ area, flexible labour laws, and provision for world class infrastructure can provide the required directions.

Barman Arup It is observed that mere compensation for the land is not enough because the money paid to the farmers will get spent after a few days. For making this plan successful investment education should be provided to the farmers. Over the period of several years the SEZ have a huge contribution in the economy but recently it is seen that the development of SEZ is not based on the economic considerations but on political considerations.

If this is allowed to happen then the sustainability of the SEZ in India is in doubt. Mitra Siddhartha On the basis of economic theory and history we can conclude that absorption of agricultural labour is necessary for sustained economic development of a developing country. However, the SEZ policy in India has suffered from permission being granted for far too many suboptimally sized SEZs or for others to serve as appendages to mega cities already suffering from overcrowding, infrastructure and a size which far exceeds the optimum.

The present ceiling on SEZ size at hectares does not facilitate the full exploitation of economies of scale in service oriented SEZs and should be scrapped. There are other ways of minimizing peasant unrest during the process of land acquisition for SEZ development. For example, the state can assume the role of a passive provider of a legal framework, information and incentive packages. The onus of land acquisition would be entirely on negotiations between prospective SEZ entrepreneurs and the owners of agricultural land.

Mutually beneficial transactions will automatically result if possibilities for any exist. Whether material consent to dispossession can be built while retaining its profitability for capital remains to be seen. First zone official showed interest in the survey but suddenly they changed their views having knowledge of scope of the study. The administrators seemed unwilling to share any financial information on the zone and refused to offer any help in carrying out the survey.

Department handling land related transactions are considered the most centralized in their functioning and also the most corrupt. This was revealed in interactions with officials in the revenue department and at the Industries Commissionerate.

The department of commerce was working out a policy that would make it mandatory for the board of approval chaired by the commerce secretary to conduct due-diligence on developers applying to set up SEZs.

According to the official, developers with no expertise in a particular industry have applied for and obtained approvals for SEZs in the past.

For instance, a textile exporting company has permission to set up an information technology SEZ. The government has taken cognizance of recent reports by the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations that highlight this issue. State government officials are often unaware of the performance of SEZs in their own states.

The Centre has thus decided not to approve proposals unless developers have a record of developing operational SEZs. Present study focuses on all notified SEZs in Gujarat. Literatures are scant discussing overall scenario of SEZs in Gujarat. It is descriptive and analytical by nature. The research is based on primary and secondary sources. Relevant material from primary sources is collected from statutory provisions of the relevant legislation.

Researcher filed Right to Information applications Appendix 5 in various government offices to collect some crucial information which was not available in public domain.

Qualitative and Quantitative analysis will be done looking at different aspects of SEZ operation. There are total 18 notified SEZs in the Gujarat. Thus the researcher has taken total 17 SEZs from Sr. No 1 to 17 for his study. Following are the sources for data. Main source of primary data is exclusive law for SEZ i. Followings are the other sources of secondary data. Hard Copy and Online.

Gujarat is one of the top five states in India which has made significant effort in flourishing SEZs in the state. There is mismatch regarding information available with central and state government.

As per study done by Nicola A. Virgill Data on EPZ is scant. The International Labour Organization is the organization which currently and systematically collects data on export processing zones.

He requested IC to issue recommendation letter in favour of him so that he could visit SEZs in Gujarat without and any trouble and get co-operation from the organizations. Malhotra Shavin during his Ph. Human Development aspects have not been studied properly due to permission issues for visit. The researcher tried to study some aspects of human development with the help of information obtained under RTI Act.

Personal interview in SEZ with various stakeholders would have helped him to understand the impact of SEZ on human development. They just transferred his application from one office to other office and that office to another one as per the procedure laid down in the RTI Act. He has not received any kind of information from the Office of the Industries Commissioner, Gandhinagar, Govt.

Till date he is waiting for reply from other govt. This entire exercise helped him to the certain extent but not in significant way. Major statistical tools could not be applied as required data for that not available and have not been provided by the concerned government. He has also discussed objectives, hypotheses of the study, literature review and research methodology in the same chapter. Chapter 2 deals with various legal provisions regarding SEZ in India.

Chapter 3 describes the profile of all selected notified SEZs in Gujarat on which entire study is based upon. All collected data have been analyzed and interpreted in Chapter 4. Chapter explains statement of the problem, objectives of the study, research questions and hypothesis of the study. In-depth review of literature has been done looking at all aspects finding the gap in it for the further research purpose. Research Methodology adopted for the study has been explained followed by limitations of the study.

Finally scheme of chapterization is outlined at the end. This chapter shows various economic and legal aspects of SEZs in Gujarat and their interpretation. Researcher has made recommendations looking at present working condition of SEZs in Gujarat.

Limitation of the present study is outlined and future scope of study in the present area is indicated. Section 3 :- Procedure for making proposal to establish SEZ 1.

A SEZ may be established either jointly or severally by the Central Government, State Government or any person for manufacture of goods or rendering services or for both or as Free Trade and Warehousing Zone. Any person who intends to set up SEZ may after identifying area make a proposal to the State government or at his option make a proposal directly to the Board of Approval for the purpose of setting up the SEZ.

If person makes application directly to BOA and approval granted after that the person concerned shall obtain the concurrence of the state government within the period. State Government forwards the proposal directly to BOA. Central Government after consulting state government suo-moto set up and notify SEZ.

After satisfying all requirements under section 3, Central Government notify the specially identified area in the State as a SEZ. Section 5 :- Guidelines for notifying SEZ Central Government while notifying any area as a SEZ or an additional area to be included in the SEZ and discharging its functions under this Act shall be guided by the following namely, - Generation of additional economic activity; - Promotion of exports of goods and services; - Promotion of investment from domestic and foreign sources; - Creation of employment opportunities; - Development of infrastructural facilities and - Maintenance of sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state and friendly relations with foreign states.

Section 6 :- Processing and non-processing areas. Section 7 :- Exemption from taxes, duties and cess. Any goods or services exported out of or imported into or procured from the domestic area by a unit in a SEZ or a developer shall subject to such terms, conditions and limitations as may be prescribed be exempt from the payment of taxes, duties or cess under all enactments specified in the First Schedule.

Section 8 :- Constitution of Board of Approval 1. The Central Government shall within fifteen days of the commencement of this Act by notification, constitute for the purposes of the Act, a Board to be called the Board of Approval. Chairperson, ex officio; - Two officers, not below the rank of a Joint Secretary to the Govt. Members, ex officio; - Such number of officers, not exceeding ten, not below the rank of the Joint Secretary to the Govt.

Members, ex officio; - A nominee of the State Govt. Member, ex officio. The Board shall have the duty to promote and ensure orderly development of SEZ 2. Followings are the power and functions of the Board a. Granting approval authorized operation to be carried by developer and units in SEZ; b. Granting of approval or rejecting of proposal for providing infrastructure facilities in a SEZ; c. Suspension of the letter of approval granted to a Developer and appointment of an Administrator; d.

The Board may delegate such power and functions as it may deem fit to one or more Development Commissioner for effective and proper discharge of the functions of the board. Section 10 :- Suspension of letter of approval and transfer of SEZ in certain cases. The Board may instead of suspending the letter of approval, permit it to remain in force subject to such further term and conditions as it thinks fit to impose and any further terms or conditions so imposed shall be binding upon and be complied with by the Developer and shall be of like force and effect as if they were contained in the letter of approval.

Every DC shall take all steps in order to discharge his functions under this Act to ensure speedy development of the SEZ and promotion of exports therefrom. DC shall a. Guide the entrepreneurs for setting up of Units in the SEZ. Ensure and take suitable steps for effective promotion of exports from the SEZ. Ensure proper coordination with the Central Govt. Discharge such other functions as may be assigned by Central Govt. Every DC may call for such information from a Developer or Unit from time to time as may be necessary to monitor the performance of the Developer or the unit as the case may be.

Members, ex officio; - One officer of the central govt. Members, ex officio; - Two officer of the State Govt. Special Invitee. Section 14 :- Powers and Functions of Approval Committee Followings are the power and functions of approval committee. Section 15 :- Setting up of a unit 1. Any person who intends to set up a unit for carrying on the authorized operations in a SEZ may submit a proposal to the DC concerned in such form and manner containing such particulars as may be prescribed.

The DC shall submit the same to approval committee for approval. The approval committee may either approve the proposal without modification or approve the proposal with modifications subject to such terms and conditions as it may deem fit to impose or reject the proposal.

Any person aggrieved by an order of the approval committee may prefer an appeal to the Board. Section 19 :- Single application form, return etc. Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, the central government may if required, - Prescribe a single application form for obtaining license, permission or registration or approval by a developer or an entrepreneur under one or more central acts; - Authorize the board, the development commissioner or approval committee to exercise the powers of the central govt.

Section 20 :- Agency to inspect Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, the Central Govt. This section came into force On January 13, after the notification in the gazette. Section 21 :- Single enforcement officer or agency for notified offences. This section came into force on January 13, after the notification in the gazette. Section 22 :- Investigation, inspection and search or seizure.

The agency or officer specified under section 20 or section 21 may, with prior intimation to the DC concerned carry out the investigation or search or seizure in the SEZ or in a unit if such agency or officer has reasons to believe that a notified offence has been committed or is likely to be committed in the SEZ Section 23 :- Designated Courts to try suits and notified offences.

The State Govt. Section 24 :-Appeal to High Court. Any person aggrieved by any decisions or order of the court designated under section 23 may file an appeal to the High Court within sixty days from the date of communication of the decisions or order of the courts.

Every developer and entrepreneur shall be entitled for exemptions from paying Customs, Excise, Service tax, Sales tax. Section 27 :- Provisions of Income-Tax Act, to apply with certain modification in relation to Developers and entrepreneur. The provisions of the IT Act, as in force for the time being shall apply to or in relation to, the developer or entrepreneur for carrying on the authorized operations in a SEZ or Units subject to the modifications specified in the second schedule.

Every authority shall be a body corporate by the name aforesaid having perpetual succession and common seal, with a power, subject to the provisions of this act, to acquire hold and dispose of property, both movable and immovable and to contact and shall, by the said name sue and be sued. Members, ex officio; - An officer of Govt. Members, ex officio; - Not more than two person being entrepreneurs or their nominee to be nominated by central govt….. Members, ex officio. There shall be established by every authority a Fund and there shall be credited thereto.

The fund shall be applied for meeting - The salaries, allowances and other remuneration of the members, officers and other employees of the authority; - The expenses of the authority in the discharge of its functions under section 34; - Repayment of any loan; - Meeting any other administrative expenses of the authority.

Section 39 :- Returns and reports Every authority shall furnish to the central govt. Section 42 :-Reference of Dispute Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, if any - Any dispute of civil nature arises among two or more entrepreneurs or two or more developers or between an entrepreneur and a developer in the SEZ; and - The court or the courts to try suits in respect of such dispute had not been designated under Section 23, Such dispute shall be referred to arbitration.

Where a dispute has been referred to arbitration, the same shall be settled or decided by the arbitrator to be appointed by the central govt. Section 44 :-Applicability of provisions of this Act to existing SEZ All the provisions of this act except section 3 and 4 shall as far as may be apply to every existing SEZ.

Section 49 :-Power to modify provisions of the act or other enactments in relation to SEZ The central govt. Section 50 :-Power of State Govt. Section 53 :-SEZs to be ports, air ports, inland container depots, land station etc. A SEZ shall on and from the appointed day, be deemed to be a territory outside the customs territory of India for the purposes of undertaking the authorized operations. A SEZ shall, with effect from such date as central govt.

Section 55 :-Power to make rules The Central Govt. A SEZ is proposed to be set up exclusively for electronic, hardware and software, including information technology enabled services, the area shall be 10 hectares or more with a minimum built up processing area of one lakh square meters.

For Handicraft, Bio-technology, non-conventional energy, gems and jewellery area shall be 10 hectares or more. Infrastructure requirement relating to Information Technology Rule 5A In case of SEZ relating to IT, the following facilities shall be ensured, namely :- - 24 hours uninterrupted power supply at stable frequency in the Zone; - Reliable connectivity for uninterrupted and secure data transmission; - Provision for central air-conditioning system; and - A ready to use, furnished plug and pay facility for end users.

Letter of approval to the developer Rule 6 - The Central Govt. Central Govt. Rule 8 6. The Development Commissioner shall demarcate the area and issue demarcation order under the provision of section 6, specifying the survey numbers and boundaries of area of the SEZ as specified in the notification issued under Rule 8. The utilization of the goods imported or procured from domestic tariff area by the developer shall be monitored by the Approval Committee.

Rule 15 8. Proposal of setting up of unit to be made to Development Commissioner in Form F. Rule The Approval Committee may approve or approve with modification or reject a proposal within fifteen days of receipt Rule Rule 19 9. Rule 20 Rule 22 The Unit shall achieve positive Net Foreign Exchange to be calculated cumulatively for a period of five years from the commencement of production accordingly to the formula specified in Rule Performance of the unit shall be monitored by the Approval Committee as per the guidelines.

Revival of sick units A unit which has been declared sick by the appropriate authority shall submit a revival package through DC to Board for consideration and the Board shall consider the extension in the period for fulfillment of Positive Net Foreign Exchange for a further period upto a maximum of five years at the prevalent times. If any new unit willing to take over all the assets and liability of a sick unit, it will be considered by the Board. Rule 72 The unit may opt out of SEZ with the approval of the DC and such exit shall be subject to payment of applicable duties on the imported or indigenous capital goods, raw materials, components, consumables, spares and finished goods in the stock.

Rule 74 2. From Financial year , now it is chargeable to said taxes. This amendment held constitutionally valid and in the public interest. While implementing SEZ in India, govt. No this new amendment clearly violates doctrine of promissory estoppel. This withdrawal of exemption will affect the operation of SEZ in country.

HC laid down principle that doctrine of promissory estoppel does not apply to the Legislative and that the Finance Minister has complete authority and power to amend the provisions of the SEZ Act. This has replaced old notification No.

As per earlier notification, it was mentioned that Service has to be received in SEZ and wholly consumed within the SEZ used for authorized operation. Now as per new amendment upfront exemption under Section 66B of Finance Act is given when prescribed services received by SEZ unit or developer are used exclusively for authorized operation. The benefit of the above concessions would be for ten consecutive years out of the first 15 years.

Banking Units — scheduled banks in India, foreign banks having offshore banking units in an SEZ and units of International Financial Services Centre — are entitled to a per cent deduction of income for the first five consecutive years and 50 per cent thereafter.

This is secured by insertion of Sec. The State Government, in which the Special Economic Zone is situated, may, with the concurrence of the Chief Justice of the High Court of that State, designate one or more courts to try all suits of a civil nature arising in the Special Economic Zone; and to try notified offences committed in the Special Economic Zone.

A Special Economic Zones SEZ is a geographical region that has economic and other laws that are more free-market-oriented than a country's typical or national laws. SEZs can combine these factors into a powerful alchemy to power investment creation. Your email address will not be published.

Training and Recruitment info - please reach Special Economic Zones Act, May 8, Objectives: The Special Economic Zones Act, , provides the legal framework for establishment of Special Economic Zones and also for units operating in such zones. Chapter II: It contains the most important aspects of establishment of Special Economic Zones, such as procedure for making proposal to establish Special Economic zone, Requirements for establishment of SEZ, The Duties of the board and establishment of Special Economic Zone and approval and authorization to operate it, Developer, guide lines for notifying Special Economic Zone, Processing and non-processing areas, and exemption for taxes, duties or cess.

Carousel Previous. Carousel Next. What is Scribd? Explore Ebooks. Bestsellers Editors' Picks All Ebooks. Explore Audiobooks. Bestsellers Editors' Picks All audiobooks. Explore Magazines. Editors' Picks All magazines. Explore Podcasts All podcasts. Difficulty Beginner Intermediate Advanced. Explore Documents. Sez Act Uploaded by ravie Did you find this document useful? Is this content inappropriate?

Report this Document. Flag for inappropriate content. Download now. Related titles. Carousel Previous Carousel Next. Jump to Page. Search inside document. Section 7 of SEZ Act, Exemption from taxes, duties or cess Any goods or services exported out of, or imported into, or procured from the Domestic Tariff Area by, i a Unit in a Special Economic Zone; or ii a Developer; shall, subject to such terms, conditions and limitations, as may be prescribed, be exempt from the payment of taxes, duties or cess under all enactments specified in the First Schedule Contd.

Documents Similar To Sez Act Manuel L.