« Top Headlines » Open DEMAT Account in 24 hrs  Income Tax Return Filing: 10 Mistakes To Avoid When Filing ITR For AY 2024-25  Old vs New Tax Regime: Who should move to the New Tax Regime from the old one?  Income Tax Calculator FY 2023-24: How To Know Your Tax Liability Online On IT Dept's Portal?  BackBack Income Tax Act amendment on cards on tax treatment of MSME dues  ITR-1, ITR-2, ITR-4 forms for FY 2023-24 available for e-filing. Check details here  Income tax slabs FY 2024-25: Experts share these 8 benefits for taxpayers in new income tax regime  How To File ITR Online - Step by Step Guide to Efile Income Tax Return, FY 2023-24 (AY 2024-25)  Old or new tax regime for TDS on salary? This post-election 2024 event will impact your tax planning  What Are 5 Heads Of Income Tax?  Income Tax Dept releases interim action plan for FY25 on tax collection, refund approvals   Income Tax Return: 5 lesser-known tax-saving tips from Section 80 «  I-T deptt questions credit system of footwear industry... FinMin wants proper use of capital funds... » Amendment to SEZ Act on the cards September, 18th 2006 The commerce ministry is considering nominating the directors of software technology parks of India (STPIs) as development commissioners of information technology special economic zones. An amendment to the SEZ Act 2005 is being planned accordingly. The information technology department has been pushing a proposal to treat STPIs on a par with SEZs. The department's concern is that since the tax benefits of STPIs are in place only till 2009, there might be a migration of the existing units from the parks. Meanwhile, the commerce ministry is thinking of fixing an indicative land area for construction of shopping malls, apartments and hotels in the non-processing portion of a SEZ. "The government may decide to allow construction of shopping area up to 50,000 sq m in case of a multi-product zone. Any developer that decides to exceed this limit will not be eligible for any tax benefits," an official said. Similarly, the Board of Approval may decide to restrict the number and area of dwelling units inside a zone. In case of sector-specific zones, particularly IT SEZs, the view is that since the social infrastructure is in most cases a part of the main building block, there is no need for a bigger area to be demarcated for this purpose. "We may, therefore, allow an IT zone to set aside not more than 10,000 sq m for social infrastructure," an official said. The government has so far notified 24 SEZs. Some of the new SEZs are expected to become operational within this calendar year. These include Divi's Laboratories' pharma zone in Vishakapatnam, set up with an investment of Rs 200 crore, which is expected to begin production next month, and Apache's footwear SEZ in Nellore with an investment of Rs 500 crore, expected to begin production in December.