Reliance Industries  today won government approval to de-notify over 40 percent of its Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Gujarat as it plans Rs 45,000 crore projects in that area to cater to domestic market.
An official said RIL's proposal was approved at the meeting of Board of Approvals (BoA) SEZ subject to the company obtaining a no-objection certificate (NoC) from the state government for the denotification.

"The BoA today approved the proposal but they have to take an NoC from the state government and the company also have to refund the tax benefits it may have availed for operating units in the only-for-export zone," he said.

The decision was taken today by the Board of Approval for SEZ, which is headed by Commerce Secretary S R Rao. RIL's multi-product SEZ is spread over 1,764.14 hectares. The company wants partial de-notification of an area of 728.43 hectares, leaving 1,035.72 hectares of plan for the multi-product SEZ.

Sources said that in the de-notified area RIL plans to invest Rs 45,000 crore in new projects that will cater to domestic demand. The developer had applied for partial de-notification so as to implement a number of new projects in the domestic tariff area (DTA) in Jamnagar near the SEZ. The proposed projects will mainly cater to the significant existing domestic demand.

RIL had stated in the proposal that it plans to invest Rs45,000 crore in projects in the de-notified area. SEZ houses 580,000 barrels per day or 29 million tons a year oil refinery that exports fuel to far off countries like Venezuela and Mexico, besides the US and Europe. An adjacent 33 million tons older unit cater to the domestic market.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led firm is investing over USD 12 billion in its core refining and petrochemical industries as output from its eastern offshore KG-D6 fields dips to an all-time low of around 22 million standard cubic meters a day.

RIL is investing USD 8 billion, the most since it completed a second oil refinery in 2008, in expansion of its petrochemical business to meet rising demand of plastics and polyester. Also, it is setting up a USD 4 billion petroleum coke gasification project that will produce synthetic natural gas that will replace expensive LNG as fuel.