Mukesh Ambani, the head of India's most profitable company Reliance Industries, is reportedly planning to pull out of the Navi Mumbai special economic zone (SEZ), as the project hasn't made any headway in the past 11 years.
Even as the central government stopped offering "fiscal incentives" a global financial crisis has worsened things for the project, according to Jai Corp, the SEZ's promoter. Jai Corp is owned by Anand Jain, who is close to Ambani.
Ambani is now weighing proposals from some investors to convert the SEZ project into an industrial park, a source close to the developments told Business Standard.
Ambani holds a stake in the SEZ project in his "personal capacity." The Maharashtra government has already given its nod to turn a part of SEZ into an industrial area. The valuation for the SEZ, spread across 2,140 hectares in Navi Mumbai, is being worked out.
The valuation of the project will be estimated taking into account the current land prices in the area, as the "demand for an industrial park is not likely to be high."
An announcement in this regard will be made shortly, the report said.
In the past, SEZ players in the state had told the government that it would be difficult to attract companies to such zones without any fiscal incentives. Companies interested in the SEZ had said that it was economically unviable for them to set up units in the zone, after the Centre took back tax concessions in 2011.
In addition, the land allotted to the Navi Mumbai SEZ was scattered, which made it hard to develop a "unified zone."
