ABSTRACT
Gujarat is one of the most economically and industrially developed states in India. The industrial policies of the state have played a major role in promoting industrial development and the rank of the state in terms of contribution to industrial GDP of the nation has risen from 8th in the 1960s to 2nd in the last decade. This chapter focuses on the successive industrial policies in the state since 1971. The earlier policies in Gujarat were aimed at attracting an increased flow of investments to the backward regions to achieve the objective of balanced regional development by offering fiscal incentives. However, it was realised that fiscal incentives alone cannot influence the location decisions and there are many other factors which are likely to play an equally important role in decisions on an industrial location. Therefore, the focus of the later policies has shifted to overall industrial development in the state by providing and promoting the enabling infrastructure. Sustainable development, pollution control, meeting the standards, creation of environmental infrastructure for the protection of the environment, automated monitoring of environmental quality, etc. have been the focus of all industrial policies since 1995.
