Exports from SEZs to hit Rs 1,40,000 cr

The new Special Economic Zones, including the Reliance Industries' Jamnagar refinery, would help increase India's SEZ exports by 40 per cent this fiscal, righting partially the dismal picture of the country's total exports, according to government estimates.

About 10 new SEZs would be operational within this fiscal. Exports from the RIL's Jamnagar refinery are expected to be Rs 35,000 crore (Rs 350 billion), a Commerce Ministry official said.

Exports from 91 SEZs in 2008-09 were Rs 99,689 crore (Rs 996.89 billion). "New SEZs are coming up...by the end of this fiscal, more and more units would start operating," Director General of the Export Promotion Council for EoUs (Export-oriented Units) and SEZs L B Singhal said.

A total of 579 SEZs have been approved in the different parts of the country and 335 of them have been notified. The SEZs have attracted an investment of over Rs 1.10 lakh crore.