Industrial Park Scheme, 2008

In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (iii) of sub-section (4) of section 80-IA of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961), the Central Government hereby frames the following scheme for Industrial Parks, namely :

Short title, commencement and application.

1. (1) This Scheme may be called the Industrial Park Scheme, 2008.

(2) It shall come into force on the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.

(3) The scheme shall be applicable for any undertaking which develops, develops and operates or maintains and operates an industrial park.

Definitions.

2. In this Scheme, unless the context otherwise requires,

        (a)  Act means the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961);

        (b)  allocable area means area available for allocation to the units for industrial activity or commercial activity and shall exclude the area utilized for providing common facility or infrastructure facility;

         (c)  associated enterprise shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in section 92A of the Act;

        (d)  ¹[***];

         (e)  common facility means facilities required for proper functioning of industrial park and commonly shared by all the units located in the industrial park and include facilities like lifts, corridors, industrial canteens, convention/conference halls, parking, travel desks, security service, first aid centre, ambulance, safety service training facilities;

         (f)  date of commencement means the date of obtaining the completion certificate or occupation certificate, as the case may be, from the relevant local authority, certifying thereby that all the required development activities for the project have been completed;

        (g)  Form means a form appended to this Scheme;

        (h)  industrial park means a project in which plots of developed space or built up space or a combination, with common facilities and quality infrastructure facilities, is developed and made available to the units for the purposes of industrial activities or commercial activities in accordance with this scheme;

         (i)  infrastructure facility means facilities required for development, operation and maintenance of the industrial park and include roads (including approach roads), water supply, sewerage and effluent treatment facilities, solid waste management facilities, telecom network, generation and distribution of power, air conditioning;

²[(j) industrial activity means -

(a) manufacturing activity as defined in section D of the National Industrial Classification, 2004 Code, issued by the Central Statistical Organisation, Department of Statistics;

(b) research and experimental development on natural sciences and engineering as defined in section K, division 73, group 731 of the National Industrial Classification, 2004 Code, issued by the Central Statistical Organisation, Department of Statistics;

(c) development of computer software; and

(d) information technology enabled products or services as notified vide notification number S.O 890(E), dated the 26th September, 2000 for the purposes of sections 10A, 10B and 80HHE of the Income-tax Act, 1961;]

        (k)  industrial unit means a unit which is,

      (i)  located in the Industrial Park;

     (ii)  a separate and distinct entity assessable to tax under the provisions of the Act having a separate Permanent Account Number (PAN); and

    (iii)  carrying out industrial activity;

         (l)  words and expressions used in this Scheme and not defined but defined in the Act, shall have the same meanings respectively assigned to them in the Act.

Procedure for approval.

3. (1) Any undertaking which develops, develops and operates or maintains and operates an industrial park may make an application for notification under clause (iii) of sub-section (4) of section 80-IA of the Act, in the prescribed form, IPS-I, to the Secretary (ITA-1 section), Central Board of Direct Taxes, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, North Block, New Delhi.

(2) The Central Board of Direct Taxes shall process the application for approval and notification by the Central Government and for this purpose it may call for reports from other Departments or agencies, as it may deem fit.

Criteria for approval.

4. An undertaking shall be considered for notification under clause (iii) of sub-section (4) of section 80-IA of the Act, if it fulfils all of the following conditions, namely :

(1) The date of commencement of the Industrial Park should be on or after the 1st day of April, 2006 and not later than 31st of March, ^2a[2011];

³[(2) The area allocated or to be allocated to industrial units shall not be less than seventy five per cent of the allocable area;]

⁴[(2A) The area allocated or to be allocated for commercial activity shall not be more than ten percent of the allocable area;]

(3) There shall be a minimum of thirty industrial units located in an industrial park;

(4) For the purpose of computing the minimum number of industrial units; all units of a person and his associated enterprises will be treated as a single unit;

⁵[(5) The minimum constructed floor area shall not be less than 15,000 square meters;]

(6) No industrial unit, along with the units of an associated enterprise, shall occupy more than twenty-five per cent of the allocable area;

(7) The industrial park should be owned by only one undertaking; and

⁶[(8) Industrial units shall only undertake activities defined in clause (j) of para (2).]

General Conditions.

5. (1) The industrial park shall be construed as developed on the date of commencement.

(2) Tax benefits under the Act will be available to the undertaking only after minimum number of thirty units are located in the Industrial Park.

(3) The tax benefits under the Act will be available to the undertaking only if the undertaking and the industrial park have been notified by Central Board of Direct Taxes under section 80-IA of the Act.

(4) The tax benefits under the Act will be available only to the undertaking notified by the Central Government and not to any other person who may subsequently develop, develops and operates or maintains and operates the notified industrial park, for any reason.

(5) The undertaking must keep separate books of account for the industrial park and must file its income-tax returns by the due date to the Income-tax Department.

(6) An industrial park approved under Industrial Park Scheme, 2002 will continue to be governed by the provisions of that Scheme to the extent it is not in contravention with the provisions of Act, as amended from time to time.

(7) The undertaking shall electronically furnish an annual report to the Central Board of Direct Taxes in Form IPS-II.

Withdrawal of approval.

6. The Central Government may withdraw the approval given to an under-taking under this Scheme if the undertaking fails to comply with any of the conditions listed in paragraphs 4 and 5 of this Scheme :

Provided that before withdrawal of approval, the undertaking shall be given an opportunity of being heard by the Central Government.