Tuesday, September 26 2006 17:21 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: After reproaching the IMF for its attack on India's SEZ policy, Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath has criticised the Reserve Bank for its 'inconsistent approach' toward Special Economic Zones.

"The Reserve Bank must be consistent in its outlook on SEZs," he told sources on the sidelines of a programme here last night when asked to comment on the recent notification on commercial banks' exposure to SEZs.

The apex bank asked the commercial banks to treat SEZs at par with any other real estate project when it comes to lending. As a result, SEZs would find borrowing from banks costlier.

Nath's criticism of RBI comes just after he said he subscribes to Congress President Sonia Gandhi's view against diversion of farm land for industrial and non-agricultural use.

Kamal Nath also asked the industry to take up the issue of higher provisioning by commercial banks for SEZs with RBI.

"RBI should be consistent. In its own report, lauding the policy it had said that the SEZs are engines of growth and now in the notification, it raised the risk weightage," a visibly aggreived Nath said.

Following the notification, RBI drew severe criticism from the industry, which is of the opinion that being an extremely important and powerful concept, SEZs could fuel tremendous economic growth, generate new employment opportunities and bring in large investments from all over the world.