Special Economic Zones and Federalisation – India’s Experience
Malini L Tantri
Abstract
This paper, with a specific reference to SEZs, intends to examine in detail the federal dimension of trade policy making in India. While doing so, the study explores how federalisation has scripted the success stories of SEZs in the context of other countries, before subsequently exploring the presence of federal footprints in India’s SEZ Policy. The analysis highlights that while the SEZ Act has made a provision for the participation of states in the policy making, their role is limited and that a possible intervention at the sub-national level in the operation and management of SEZs is almost non-existent in the Indian context. Nevertheless, a few outlier states, namely Gujarat, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, have experimented with their “own rule” in addition to adhering to “shared rule”, which, inter alia, is shaping their performance outcomes. We sum up the paper by arguing that the future SEZ policy should incorporate an increased role for federal units, not just in shared rule, but also in experimenting with “own rule” with local favour. .