“Investment in SEZs (Special Economic Zones) is most attractive today. Andhra Pradesh is in forefront in establishing SEZs in the country and a number of incentives are available for SEZ developers. Now the Government is not keen on setting up SEZ and the focus is on private developers.
The incentives, among others, include duty free import and domestic procurement, income tax benefits and full freedom to the developers,” said M.S. Rao, Development Commissioner, Visakhapatnam Special Economic Zone, while speaking at a seminar on ‘New Foreign Trade Policy, Incentives of Documentation’ organised by the Andhra Pradesh Chamber Commerce, Visakhapatnam, here on Monday.
Elaborating on the incentives, he said that there would be 100 per cent income tax benefit for the first five years and 50 per cent in the next five years.
There would be central tax exemption also and 100 FDI is allowed for the SEZ units. Improving export related infrastructure, lower transactional costs and diversification of export markets were the other measures to improve exports, he said.
President of the Chambers V. Upendran presided over the seminar.
Mr. Rao said that there was steady growth at VSEZ which has Rs.1,300 crore investment and provided jobs to more than 5,000 persons. With a view to facilitating and promoting exports, integrated infrastructure and hassle free environment for operations were ensured.
With 19 operating SEZs and 73 more notified, Andhra Pradesh was a leader in the SEZ movement. He said that sectors like pharma, bio-chemicals, medicare and non-conventional energy proved to be recession-proof.
He also referred to the EOUs (Export Oriented Units) and its advantages over SEZ. While SEZ could be set up only in the notified areas, EOUs could be set up any where in the country and could sell 50 percent of their products in domestic market. The growth in EOUs was steady, he said.
Answering a question in the interactive session, by Praja Spandana President C.S Rao that SEZs resulted in land grabbing, Mr. Rao said that now the Government had taken a decision not to bring agriculture land in the SEZ notification and there should be no force in land acquisition for the SEZs and it should be by consensus.
Incentives
In his presentation on New Foreign Trade Policy 2009-14, Zonal Director General on Foreign Trade and Export Commissioner M. Saikumar said that incentives like duty free import of raw material and capital goods were proposed to be given for achieving the envisaged annual growth of 15 per cent in the said period. Export promotion to other than established markets, like Latin America and Africa were the other steps, Mr. Saikumar said.
The Assistant Director, Export Inspection Agency, A.S. Sarma explained the various steps involved in obtaining a certificate from the EIA, exporting products and getting preferential tariff.
Assistant General Manager of SBI R. Krishna Murthy gave details of export finance and packing credit facilities. Senior EXIM consultant and honorary Adviser of the Chamber on Foreign trade gave tips for proper documentation which is very important. Former MP M.V.V.S. Murthy, Chairman and Foreign Trade Sub-Committee of Chamber M. Sampangi were present.
