Rs 288000 cr 3500000 jobs

But all that investment, all those jobs are now on hold.

At a meeting this week, the Prime Minister’s Office asked the Commerce Ministry to freeze all future notifications of SEZs after the Empowered Group of Ministers decided to, well, postpone their decision.

“The government action has come as a total surprise,” said Brandix in a letter to the Commerce Ministry, “it derails our entire investment plan to set up an Integrated Apparel Park. We have already committed to our overseas shareholders and investors…It will tarnish our image to be a reliable destination for textile and apparel exporters in an already highly competitive global market.’’

Brandix isn’t the only one.

Official records obtained by The Sunday Express show that while 235 SEZ proposals have been formally cleared by the SEZ approval board, only 63 were notified by the government in consultation with the Law Ministry.

Of these 63, which together account for an investment of Rs 58,458.9 crore and jobs to 8.9 lakh people by December 2009, 25 are functional with an investment of Rs 11,194.2 crore already in place and direct employment to 15,097 persons.

As operationalisation of all the 235 SEZs translates into an investment of Rs 300,000 crore and some 4 million additional jobs, the UPA government’s decision of withholding SEZ notification has put a question mark on a future investment of Rs 288,000 crore and employment opportunities for over 35 lakh people.

The irony is that, like Brandix, none of these SEZs face land-acquisition problems.

In all the 235 cases, land was acquired by state industrial corporations. Even the additional 162 in-principle SEZ approvals given by the board do not face any acquisition problems as developers purchased land outright at commercial prices.

Consider what’s on hold:

• Foxconn SEZ in Tamil Nadu is in the list of 235 SEZs approved by the Commerce Ministry but yet not notified. It’s envisaged investment: $1 billion; employment to 20,000 persons by December 2009.

• SIPCOT, Motorola and Dell SEZ in Tamil Nadu is among the 63 electronic hardware manufacturing units already notified but the government had to give approval to Motorola and Dell as co-developers. This is now stuck even though the total investment is over $200 million and employment generation for 5,000 persons was expected by December 2007.

• Brandix SEZ has already invested $100 million with 1,000 of expected 60,000 persons already employed. Brandix is one of the 25 cases sent to Law Ministry for notification prior to the government decision.

• Tata Gopalpur multi-product SEZ, that covers over 4000 acres, was only given in-principle approval in the Board’s last meeting in October as security clearance was withheld by the Home Ministry on account of missile testing range nearby. The security clearance has now come but the proposed investment of over Rs 30,000 crore is stuck due to the government’s decision.

• Reliance multi-product SEZ at Navi Mumbai and Jhajjhar with proposed investment of Rs 30,000 crore and Rs 20,000 crore respectively are stuck even though the company has already acquired majority of land.

• Bharat Forge SEZ near Pune that expects investment upto Rs 12,000 crore is again stuck despite land acquisition complete without any farmer agitation or political protests.

• Nanjuneri multi-product SEZ near Tuticorin, inaugurated by late Murasoli Maran in 2001, now waits for government to move with over 1,000 acres already acquired and an in-principle approval from the Board.

• Same is the case with Kakinada SEZ after acquiring 550 acres of the required 1000 acres.

Officials in the Commerce Ministry admit that this loss and the ‘s hands are tied by the UPA government and its Left allies, who for the moment are more interested in making political capital out of this uncertainty with the hope that it will give them benefit in the coming Assembly elections.

(Tomorrow: Mr Veerappa Moily criticises SEZs by ignoring the facts)