Lok Sabha Question No. 3729 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-18
Subject: Special Economc Zones
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Shri Muhammed Hamdullah Sayeed

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3729

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 18.12.2024

## SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES

## 3729.   SHRI MUHAMMED HAMDULLAH SAYEED:

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has made any amendments to the minimum area requirement for Special Economic Zones (SEZs) specialising electronic hardware and software;
- (b) the total number of SEZs operational in the country specifically for electronics hardware and software; and (c)  the  steps  being  taken  by  the  Government  to  attract  investments  in  these  SEZs  and  their  impact  on  the country's electronic manufacturing industry?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI JITIN PRASADA)

(a):   As  per  amendment  to  SEZ  Rules,  2006,  carried  out  on  17 th December,  2019,  the  minimum  land  area requirement for  setting  up  a  Special  Economic  Zone  or  Free  Trade  Warehousing  Zone  other  than  a  Special Economic Zone for Information Technology or Information Technology enabled Services, Biotech or Health (other than hospital) service, is a contiguous land area of fifty hectares or more. In case a Special Economic Zone is proposed to be set up in the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur,  Tripura,  Himachal  Pradesh,  Uttarakhand,  Sikkim,  Goa  or  in  a  Union  territory,  the  minimum  area required is twenty-five hectares or more.

There  is  no  minimum  land  area  requirement  for  setting  up  a  Special  Economic  Zone  for  Information Technology or Information Technology enabled Services, Biotech or Health (other than hospital) service. A minimum built up processing area requirement, based on the category of cities, is indicated in the following Table:

|   Sl. No. | Categories of cities   | Minimum built-up area requirement   |
|-----------|------------------------|-------------------------------------|
|         1 | Category 'A'           | 50,000 sq.mts.                      |
|         2 | Category 'B'           | 25,000 sq. mts.                     |
|         3 | Category 'C'           | 15,000 sq. mts.                     |

(b):  At present, there are 370 notified Special Economic Zones (SEZs) including 229 Information Technology or  Information  Technology  enabled  Services  (IT/ITES)  SEZs.  Out  of  the  total  370  SEZs,  278  SEZs  are operational including 168 IT/ITES SEZs.

- (c):  SEZ reform is an ongoing process and on the basis of inputs/suggestions received from stakeholders on the policy  and  operational  framework  of  the  SEZs,  the  Government  regularly  takes  necessary  measures  for attracting  investment,  facilitating  smooth  and  effective  implementation  of  the  SEZ  Act/Rules,  including conducting of outreach activities. During the last 5 years, 32 SEZs have been notified in the country including 17 IT/ITES SEZs.  Further, export from IT/ITES SEZs has increased continuously with double digit growth during the last 5 years, as below:

| Year      | Export from IT/ITES SEZs (Value in Rs. Crore)   | Growth Rate in% (over previous year)   |
|-----------|-------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------|
| 2019-2020 | 4,74,259                                        | 26%                                    |
| 2020-2021 | 5,20,207                                        | 10%                                    |
| 2021-2022 | 6,07,265                                        | 17%                                    |
| 2022-2023 | 7,75,584                                        | 28%                                    |
| 2023-2024 | 8,86,999                                        | 14%                                    |

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