While these come under the already 63 notified SEZs, 41 developers, including those mentioned above, were authorized to begin operations by the Board.

The Commerce Ministry also got a boost from state government representatives and SEZ developers, who appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee headed by Murli Manohar Joshi on Thursday. The Standing Committee is touring SEZs in Jhajjar in Haryana and in Gujarat for “first-hand experience” next week.

Representatives from Haryana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu met the Standing Committee and are said to have come out in favour of SEZs saying they were facing no land-acquisition problems in their states. Developers like Reliance, DLF, Wipro and Hyderabad Gems and Jewellery also voiced support in their deposition before the committee.