Entrepreneurship Development and Communication Skills

7.3.5.Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Under the Exim Policy 2004-2009 

A Special Economic Zone is a geographically distributed area or zones where the economic laws are more liberal as compared to other parts of the country.  SEZs are proposed to be spacially delineated duty free enclaves for the purpose of trade, operations, duty and tariffs.  SEZs are self-contained and integrated having their own infrastructure and support services.

The area  under ‘SEZ’ covers a broad range of zone types, including Export Processing Zones(EPZ), Free Zones(FZ), Industrial Estates(IE), Free Trade Zones(FTZ), Free Ports, Urban Enterprise Zones and others.

In India, at present there are eight functional Special Economic Zones located at Santa Cruz(Maharashtra), Cochin(Kerala), Kandla and Surat(Gujarat), Chennai(Tamil Nadu), Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Fatla (West Bengal) and Noida (Uttar Pradesh).  Further a Special Economic Zone at Indore (Madhya Pradesh) is also ready for operation.