Consultants make hay while sun shines on SEZs

ARUN S & HARSIMRAN SINGH
Posted online: Tuesday, October 17, 2006 at 0000 hours IST

NEW DELHI, OCT 16: The special economic zone (SEZ) boom has forced major
consultancy firms to form a separate vertical to cater to SEZ
consultancy needs.
There was a mad rush from SEZ developers to such firms seeking advice on
getting approvals when there was a cap on the number of SEZs in the
country at 150.

But after the government lifted the cap, the firms are now providing
end-to-end solutions to SEZ developers.

From Ernst & Young to PWC and Feedback Ventures, several consultancy
firms are betting big time on the Rs 1 lakh crore investment expected to
go into SEZs by December 2007. Says Ernst and Young partner Ajit
Krishnan: “Many developers don’t have the organisational ability to
think big like Reliance. They also don’t have the competence to
micro-manage aspects like water, sewage and power.”

For consultancy firms, it is challenging to bring the right set of
expertise to such projects.

The major work is preparing the master-plan for SEZ projects by
including key aspects like cost-efficiency and value-creation. The firms
are also competing to woo the big names among the developers.

Besides, leading firms have been roped in by state governments to frame
fool-proof and non-controversial land policies. These firms also help
developers with the marketing pitch to lure big MNCs to set up shop in
SEZs, Krishnan says, adding that his firm has given advice to 81 SEZs
regarding obtaining approval and end-to-end consultancy to 15 SEZs.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt Ltd executive director Vivek Mehra says: “We
have set up region-wise core groups as well as a national central core
group to solve all the possible problems of SEZ developers, including
the areas of finance, taxation, concept planning, designing of an SEZ
and future strategy. The developers have realized that the work does not
end with getting government clearance. The focus now is on
operationalising SEZs.”

“We have given advice to many SEZ developers including Nokia, DLF, Dewan
group and NIIT,” he said.

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=143626