The Punjab government has given the green signal to two companies who have proposed to set up special economic zones (SEZs), which will bring in the investment of nearly Rs 2,500 crore.
Punjab-based Ishan Developers and Infrastructure Limited has planned to set up SEZ integrated textile Park on 100 hectares at village Khasa in Amritsar with the investment of Rs 1,861 crore.
The project is expected provide employment to 15,000 people. Ishan Group is a diversified group of companies having interest in various fields like textiles, information technology, infrastructure development, power generation and financial services.
Ishan Group owns various businesses including textile mills at Amritsar, real estate projects in various cities of Punjab and other parts of India, a call centre at Chandigarh and a non banking finance Company.
Apart from this, Delhi-based ATS Estate has intended to build SEZ for IT/ITES with capital outlay of Rs 600 crore in Derabassi, 12 kilometers away from Chandigarh.
The company has equity capital of Rs 200 crore and will take term loan of Rs 50 crore besides attracting foreign direct investment of Rs 350 crore. The project will be set up on 12 hectares, which the company will take on lease for 30 years.
The proposed SEZ will also develop a world class electronic hardware unit including IT/ITES. The company is expecting that this will boost the export revenue. The project will provide direct employment to 8,000 persons and indirect employment to 4,000 persons. Export potential has been estimated at Rs 650 crore during the first five years.
It may be recalled that around 13 SEZs are already being developed in Punjab. The total investment in these projects is more than Rs 11, 000 crore and these SEZ are expected to generate employment for 3,46, 400 people.