SEZ / EOU Unit Registration

Two distinct but related registration routes exist for export-oriented manufacturing and service units:

Special Economic Zone (SEZ) units are governed by the SEZ Act, 2005 and the SEZ Rules, 2006. A unit is set up inside a notified SEZ upon grant of a Letter of Approval (LoA) by the jurisdictional Development Commissioner, following recommendation of the zone's Approval Committee, and is entitled to the fiscal and procedural benefits attached to SEZ status — including duty-free procurement and single-window clearances — for as long as it operates within the notified zone and meets its Net Foreign Exchange (NFE) positive obligation over the approval period.

Export Oriented Units (EOUs), which may operate anywhere and are not confined to a notified zone, are governed by Chapter 6 of FTP 2023. Registration requires approval of the Unit Approval Committee (UAC), headed by the Development Commissioner, culminating in a Letter of Permission/Approval valid for 1 year within which the unit must commence production or service — extendable by the Development Commissioner, for valid reasons, by up to 2 further years. EOUs execute a legal undertaking/bond with customs and GST authorities and are, like SEZ units, monitored for positive Net Foreign Exchange earnings over a defined period.

Both routes require the applicant to first hold a valid Import Export Code (IEC) from DGFT, and are separate and additional to RCMC and IGCR concessional-duty registration, which apply on top of SEZ/EOU status for specific import transactions.

SEZ and EOU registration is the establishment of an export-oriented unit under the Special Economic Zones Act 2005 and the Foreign Trade Policy — the approval of the SEZ unit through the single window of the Development Commissioner, or the registration of the EOU under the export-oriented unit scheme of the Foreign Trade Policy — with the customs bond, the import and the procurement benefits, the export obligations, and the tax benefits under the Income-tax Act 1961 including the Section 10AA deduction for the SEZ units. The registration is the unit's licence to the export ecosystem's benefits.

The SEZ and the EOU are the structures through which the export businesses access the incentives — the duty-free imports and the procurement, the customs compliance, the export obligations, and for the SEZ units the Section 10AA tax deduction — and the registration is the gateway to all of it. The approval process runs through the Development Commissioner and the customs authorities, and the unit's operations then run within the SEZ or the EOU framework with the bonding, the records and the reporting.

The cost of an unregistered or non-compliant unit is the lost benefit and the regulatory action: the incentives unavailable, the duty exemption questioned, the export obligations unmet with the consequences.

This service is for businesses establishing SEZ and EOU units. We prepare the application for the SEZ unit through the single window or the EOU registration under the Foreign Trade Policy, manage the approval and the customs formalities — the bond, the import and the procurement — structure the unit for the Section 10AA deduction under the Income-tax Act, and manage the operations and the reporting so the unit's benefits are secured and its obligations met.