Mumbai, January 31, 2008: India’s first SEZ (special economic zone) in the cooperative sector, worth Rs 930 crore, will be set up in Girner village near Aurangabad in the backward Marathwada region following the lead taken by a 62-year-old civil engineer-turned-farmer, Mohan Raut.

“A week ago, the Centre’s board of approvals approved our proposal to set up an IT park in Marathwada region. It will be the first SEZ across the country on a small piece of land measuring nearly 25 acres. Since most of the formalities have been completed, we will start the actual work within a fortnight,” Raut told TOI on Thursday.

Encouraged by his own success in the cooperative sector-after graduating from Mumbai’s VJTI in civil engineering, he moved to Aurangabad nearly two decades ago-Raut, with the help of some farmers, set up the Rajiv Gandhi IT Park Cooperative Society. Initially, there were five to seven members, but once the SEZ concept was ready, the membership increased to 250 during the last six months.

A comprehensive proposal for the development of an IT park was submitted to the state government a year ago. The high-level screening committee headed by industries minister Ashok Chavan approved it and submitted it to the Centre. The BoA on January 20 approved the proposal since it was the first of its kind. “Our SEZ will have 15 units on an area of 11 lakh sq ft, and all were booked even before the Centre approved our project,” Raut said.

Raut said the society had raised Rs 2.5 crore from the 250 members and expected financial assistance of Rs 25 crore from the state government as per its existing policy and substantial foreign direct investment. “For cooperative societies, the state government has been extending financial assistance to the extent of ten times the share capital mobilized by it. In the next two years, it will become a Rs 930 crore SEZ,” Raut said.

Meanwhile, a senior industries department official said so far the Centre had approved a record number of 123 SEZs in Maharashtra. It will involve acquisition of 50,171 hectares of land, investment will be Rs 1,34,777 crore and will generate employment for more than 57 lakh persons. However, only four SEZs-Infosys, Sereum, Wipro and Eon-Kharadi—all in Pune district, have actually started functioning. “We expect that at least 24 SEZs, which have been finally notified, will start production in the current year,” the official said.

Source: Times of India