Abstract:
Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are growth engines that can boost manufacturing,
augment exports and generate employment, thus boosting industrial growth in an
economy. The current paper is a descriptive paper that describes the economy of Gujarat
from the point of view of SEZs. The paper highlights the geographic spread of SEZs in
Gujarat and gives facts about the number of SEZs (functional as well as non-functional)
in Gujarat State. Finally it describes the importance of SEZs in Gujarat by studying an
activity wise SEZ growth and seeing whether these SEZs have fostered only the basic
industrial set up of Gujarat or whether they have even helped to introduce new sectors
and industries (which do not have any history of past existence) to bring up the economy
of Gujarat state. Thus, for a state to rank number 1 from industrial point of view, it is
necessary that it innovates in its industrial set up and exercises new mechanisms (like
setting up SEZs) for industrial growth.
