MUMBAI (Commodity Online): As a major development in the field of pulses exports, the union commerce ministry has informed that the SEZ units should be permitted to export prohibited items like non-basmati rice and pulses after importing them in raw form and processing in tax-free zones like the SEZs.

In a recent communiqué, the ministry has said, “It has been decided that SEZ units should be permitted to export prohibited items provided they import raw-material for the same.

The union government had prohibited exports of agriculture commodities like non-basmati rice and pulses on the back of exorbitant price rise of these essential items in the domestic market. The SEZ units automatically came under the purview of this prohibition.

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However, the approval would require prior permission from the inter-ministerial Board of Approval (BoA), headed by Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar for re-exports. It is also stipulated that these units cannot under any circumstances source items locally for export purpose.

SEZ units, especially those, having food processing units as their members, have been seeking approval for exports of these items as they did not procure from domestic area.

In India, about 579 SEZs have been approved of which 335 have been notified so far, and about 101 are operational at present. As per the set norms under the SEZ Act of the central government, units in these zones are given 100% tax exemption on their income for the first five years and 50% exemption in the next five years. The move by the government is believed to boost pulses exports from the country once again.