The government today cleared eleven proposals to set up special economic zones (SEZs), including those of Infosys and Wipro.

Developers, however, have expressed concern over the impact of the provisions of the direct taxes code (DTC) on investments in SEZs.

In its meeting here, the inter-ministerial board of approval (BoA) approved Infosys proposal to build an IT zone over 24.4 hectares in Karnataka.

Wipro got approval for two tax-free enclaves of over 19.4 and 29.9 hectares in Karnataka.

The DTC bill has proposed that only SEZs notified on or before March 31, 2012, will get tax waivers. Also, only those units that start commercial operations by March 2014, will get profit-linked deductions under the Income Tax Act, 1961.

Analysts said the scrapping of tax benefits would make the SEZs unattractive for industrial units.

Only IT units can become operational within that time period. Manufacturing units take much longer to be set up.

The BoA approved stainless steel producer JSLs proposal to surrender its SEZ in Orissa, said D. K. Mittal, additional secretary in the commerce ministry.

It also agreed to realty major Raheja Universal Ltds request to surrender its SEZ in Maharashtra.

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trusts multi-product SEZ in Mumbai got the green signal.