Industrial units are now allowed to relocate across different Special Economic Zones (SEZs) as the government step up efforts to boost business consolidation and help companies base themselves nearer to their source of input or market.
The permission would be granted by the Board of Approval (BoA) for SEZs and would be on a case-to-case basis. According to India’s commerce department, the permission would be easily granted to industrial units that have yet to start their operations or units that have started sourcing inputs but not production.
However, the BoA may take a more cautious approach in cases where production and exports have started. This is because of the need to consider provisions for income tax exemptions for migration of goods.
Currently, SEZ rules do not allow existing units in the country to relocate to other SEZs for in order to claim tax benefits. However, the existing rules have no specific provision for shifting of units from one SEZ to another.
