Cognizant plans to set up SEZ in Telangana

US-based IT major Cognizant Technologies Services Pvt Ltd is seeking the government's nod to build a special economic zone (SEZ) in India's youngest state, Telangana.

The company's application to set up SEZ will be scrutinised by the Board of Approval (BoA) at its meeting on 23 February. The BoA is headed by Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia.

The proposed IT/ITeS SEZ will come up in Ranga Reddy district of Telangana and it will be spread over 2.51 hectares.

Due to an introduction of minimum alternate tax (MAT) by the central government on SEZs, such projects have taken a back seat. To revive the interest in setting up SEZs, the commerce ministry has proposed the finance ministry to do away with the tax, Press Trust of India reports.

At this month's meeting, the BoA will also examine other SEZ projects, including those to be set up by Kandla Port Trust and GP Realtors. The developers of the two SEZs have asked for more time for the implementation of their projects.

Kandla Port Trust -- developer of multi-product SEZ at Kandla and Tuna -- wants the validity period of formal approval to be extended beyond 6 May, according to the agenda note of the BoA meeting.

GP Realtors Pvt Ltd has sought approval for further extension of the deadline to complete its electronic hardware and IT/ITeS SEZ in Haryana.

At its previous meeting on 23 December last year, the board had given its approval for 13 SEZ developers, who had asked for more time to complete the projects.

Exports from SEZs in the country reached Rs 2.21 lakh crore in the April-September period in the current fiscal year compared to Rs 4.63 lakh crore in 2014-15. About 15.44 lakh jobs were generated by these zones in the first half of 2015-16.