As many as seven new Special Economic Zones (SEZs) were given a go-ahead by the Board of Approval (BOA), on Friday.

Three of the new projects will starts in Andhra Pradesh (AP) while the rest will be given to other states.

In reality, only six proposals have been given a green signal now. The seventh one has already got an in-principal approval. The BOA just gave it a formal approval.

As for the projects, two of them will start in the field of biotech and other related activities. These would begin in the districts of Anantpur, Medak and Ranga Reddy in AP.

The other three would include different fields. One will be an airport-based SEZ, which will be started by the Cochin International Airport Ltd. at Ernakulam in Kerala. One SEZ will be set up in Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh and will be totally solar-based.

The third special zone will be for the starting of a copper project by Sterlite Industries at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry says that 581 SEZs have been given formal approval, till date. Out of these, only 353 have been notified.