New Delhi, Aug 29 (PTI) Stakeholders of special economic zones on Monday suggested measures to further improve the draft Development of Enterprises and Services Hub (DESH) Bill 2022, which would replace the existing SEZ law, the commerce ministry said on Monday.

The suggestions came during a workshop on the bill, which was organised by the Department of Commerce.

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It was organised in partnership with Export Promotion Council for EOUs (Export Oriented Units) and SEZs (Special Economic Zones) and was attended by SEZ unit operators, developers, industry associations and government functionaries of state as well as central governments, the ministry said.

It said that the draft bill was borne out of the learnings from the operations of SEZ law over more than a decade as well as from feedback from stakeholders.

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A presentation highlighted the salient features of the new law, including the broad-basing of objectives, strengthened single window mechanism, a robust and dynamic regulatory structure, revamped fiscal framework as well as avenues for alternate dispute resolution measures, the ministry added.

"The stakeholders… acknowledged that the draft law addresses most of the long pending requirements of the stakeholders including integration with domestic market as well as measures to ease compliance and simplification of procedures. The stakeholders also made several suggestions to further improve on the draft law including the rules to be framed thereunder," it added.

In the Union Budget this year, the government proposed to replace the existing law governing SEZs with a new legislation to enable states to become partners in 'Development of Enterprise and Service Hubs' (DESH).

The existing SEZ Act was implemented in 2006 with an aim to create export hubs and boost manufacturing in the country. However, these zones started losing their sheen after imposition of minimum alternate tax and introduction of sunset clause for removal of tax incentives.

These zones are treated as foreign entities in terms of provisions related to customs. The industry has time and again demanded continuation of tax benefits provided under the law.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)