Reliance Ventures Ltd (RVL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), and Infrastructure Leasing and Finance Services (IL&FS) have ended up their partnership to co-promote the model economic township (MET) project of Reliance Haryana SEZ Ltd (RHSL) at Jhajjar, Haryana, as per a stock market disclosure.
The MET project is being developed by RHSL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of RVL, in the industrial model township framework, in which IL&FS became strategic partner in January 2011.
RVL, a wholly owned subsidiary of RIL, and HSIIDC had formed a JV in 2006 for the development of a large multi-product SEZ in Gurgaon and Jhajjar districts of Haryana.
The SEZ project never took off even as land was acquired. Most recently, RIL said that it has formally opted out of proposed Haryana SEZ and has returned 1,383.68 acres of land in Gurgaon which it had acquired from HSIIDC to set up special economic zones due to revision of strategic priorities, and will continue to develop in the industrial model township framework on the directly purchased land.
RSHL – a joint venture between RIL and Haryana government-owned company Haryana State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corp (HSIIDC) – was formed to develop SEZs, model economic townships and other infrastructure facilities in Haryana.
The development work has been started over 290 acres of land as an industrial colony. Some Japanese majors have established their manufacturing units in the MET project.
HSIIDC transferred 1,383.68 acres to RHSL in 2007 to develop the project. In 2010, Haryana government approved the development of SEZ over the land transferred by HSIIDC in Gurgaon and development of MET on the directly purchased land.
However, the Indian government withdrew the fiscal concessions of exemptions of MAT of DDT for the SEZs following which RSHL decided to return the 1,383.68 acres in January 2012 as SEZs became unviable with the withdrawal of fiscal incentives.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
