SEZ India mobile app has been launched in January 2017 by:

The correct answer is C) Ministry of Commerce and Industry. SEZs are governed by the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005 and the SEZ Rules, 2006. Policy and administration sit with the Department of Commerce, which is part of this Ministry. The Board of Approval, chaired by the Commerce Secretary, clears SEZ proposals, and the Development Commissioners handle day-to-day work. A citizen-facing SEZ information app launched in January 2017 naturally came from the same department that runs the SEZ framework.

Why the others are wrong:

• A) Labour and Employment: This Ministry handles labour laws and welfare schemes. It has no role in SEZ approvals.
• B) Finance: Finance decides tax policy. SEZ tax benefits flow from the Income Tax Act and budget decisions, but Finance does not run SEZ administration or its apps.
• D) Corporate Affairs: This Ministry administers the Companies Act, 2013 and the MCA21 portal. SEZs are a trade and investment instrument, not a company-registration function.

The core concept is the institutional division of labour in economic governance: SEZs are an export-promotion tool under the commerce department. For Mains, link this to the SEZ policy debate on land acquisition, revenue loss versus export gains, and the 2019 SEZ Act amendment proposals.

Trap: Aspirants see the tax incentives and pick Finance. Always ask who administers the scheme, not who funds its incentives.