Bangalore: Union government is planning to come out with a separate Legislation for special economic zones (SEZ) in the country and its draft is ready, a senior Commerce Ministry official said on August 5.

Newly appointed director general of foreign trade L Mansingh said here that the draft has been sent to the states for them to come out with their own Legislation governing the SEZs.

"States like Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh have already come out with draft Legislation on SEZs," Mansingh said, addressing a seminar on 'State Government's Role in Export Promotion', organised by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).

While India's SEZs are modelled on the Chinese ones, "we have to develop our own model in export infrastructure", he said, noting that in India, there are various levels of administration from the centre to local governments and a plethora of laws.

"Our strength is the large number of small and medium enterprises", Mansingh said.

PTI