New Delhi: The Indian government is all set to meet Goa officials and developers after the state government decided to scrap its special economic zones following large-scale protests.

"The government has decided to meet officials and SEZ developers from Goa to find a solution to the issue," a commerce and industry ministry official told IANS.

"We might also discuss the issue in the upcoming eGoM (empowered group of ministers) meeting which might happen on April 29," the official said. He added that the meeting could be advanced to April 22.

Mumbai-based real estate major Rahejas and pharmaceutical major Cipla have filed a petition in the Bombay High Court against the Goa government order.

The eGoM, headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, is likely to take up several issues that still cloud the development of SEZs in the country. These include the size-limit for multi-product SEZs and provision of tax incentives on non-processing areas such as housing, schooling and other non-industrial activity.

This would benefit the larger SEZs of Reliance Industries Ltd, DLF, Adani, Omaxe and the Singapore-based Ascendas group.

In the meantime, the Board of Approvals (BoA) for granting approval to SEZs is likely to meet May 2. So far, the government has granted formal approvals to 453 SEZs, out of which 207 are under development.

Source : IANS