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Economy
Mahesh

06/07/22 13:42 PM IST

Development of Enterprise and Service Hubs (DESH) Bill

In News 
  • The government plans to table the Development of Enterprise and Service Hubs (DESH) Bill in the monsoon session of the Parliament, which will overhaul the special economic zones (SEZ) legislation.
Why this bill? 
  • WTO’s dispute settlement panel has ruled that India’s export-related schemes, including the SEZ Scheme, were inconsistent with WTO rules since they directly linked tax benefits to exports.
  • Countries aren’t allowed to directly subsidize exports as it can distort market prices.
Significance 
  • The DESH legislation goes beyond promoting exports and has a much wider objective of boosting domestic manufacturing and job creation through ‘development hubs’.
  • These hubs will no longer be required to be net foreign exchange positive cumulatively in five years (i.e, export more than they import) as mandated in the SEZ regime, and will be allowed to sell in the domestic area more easily.
  • The hubs will, therefore, be WTO-compliant.
  • Single window portal: DESH legislation also provides for an online single-window portal for the grant of time-bound approvals for establishing and operating the hubs.
Role of States 
  • In the SEZ regime, most decisions were made by the commerce department at the Centre. Now, states will be able to participate and even directly send recommendations for development hubs to a central board for approval.
  • State boards would be set up to oversee the functioning of the hubs. They would have the powers to approve imports or procurement of goods and monitor the utilization of goods or services, warehousing, and trading in the development hub.
Source- Indian Express 

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