Friday, September 8 2006 12:07 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra lead the race in setting up the maximum number of Special Economic Zones, but the country's biggest SEZ's are coming up in Haryana.

The Board of Approval in the Commerce Ministry has so far given final clearances to 150 SEZs and in-principle nod to another 117 zones across the country.

While 27 SEZs have been given the final nod in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra is a close second with 26, followed by 20 in Tamil Nadu, 19 in Karnataka, 13 in Gujarat and 8 in Haryana, according to data compiled by the ministry.

States in the northern, eastern and north-eastern region are lagging far behind. In fact, there is no zone proposed in the seven north-eastern states of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghayala, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura.

Other states that draw a blank in the list of SEZs given final approval include Orissa, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Sikkim, Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir.

In terms of in-principle approval, Haryana is at the top with 23 zones proposed. Maharashtra has 19 SEZs with in-principle nod, followed by 15 in Karnataka, 9 in Uttar Pradesh and 7 each in Gujarat, Punjab and Tamil Nadu.

However, in terms of area, Haryana has the country's biggest zones proposed. Gujarat is also getting a large number of bigger-sized multi-product zones, followed by Maharashtra.

Reliance Industries's 10,000 hectare SEZ at Jhajjar in the northern state, which has received in-principle approval, is so far the country's biggest zone proposed. This is followed by real estate giant DLF's proposed 8,097 SEZ, which also received in-principle nod, in the state.