Coastal zones may be in offing

The government is planning to create coastal economic zones along the country’s 7,500-km long coastline covering many states, ports and special economic zones having uniform policy to further boost manufacturing.

“There is a thinking in the government that there should be a port-led development as was done in China where cities were granted special status of open coastal cities. These cities enjoyed special policies of the government,” a senior official said. Tough India has many ports, there is no cluster or a section of coastline that enjoys special status and incentives. However, there are special economic zones where investors can set up their manufacturing base and get tax incentives, etc.