You have asked me a question about the global view on SEZ’s and about how many countries have adopted EPZ, FTZ. Which countries have adopted these systems you will find on wikipidea this is the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Economic_Zone

The first part of your question is the global point of view of SEZ’s. See most countries have adopted this system, China being one of the prominent countries amongst those. The SEZ has many benefits for economy of the country which has them. The economy can be positioned itself towards having more exports this helps the economy in earning valuable foreign exchange. The SEZ also ensures that quality products are manufactured in the country. By and large this system is good for the economy, it does have some problems associated with it, for example labour laws are not applicable in SEZ’s therefore it leads to labour exploitation. I have one entire section for advantages and disadvantages of SEZ’s from my project i will present it here.

Advantages of SEZ:

Sez’s are good from the point of view of growth and development. It increases income level of citizens, encourages competition and lowers labor costs.

Attracts FDI and exchange earnings: FDI spells long term capital that can help sustain solvency. Also FDI will ensure meaningful ownership, in times of adverse claims pay put, it is only through the FDI route that foreign stake holders will infuse capital to come over the adverse situation

The state id well informed about the latest technology and also relevant information regarding the trade that goes on all over the world and how the domestic producers can penetrate into several markets. And private business’s can position themselves in the world market and boost the standard of living of citizen’s.

Sez’s also create a lot of job opportunities

Also when sez’s become a success it increases the GDP, and acts as a good economic model for the policy makers to mimic.

Disadvantages of SEZ:

Employment: In the area of employment the disadvantage of SEZ is quite similar to the disadvantages of WalMart entering retail business. New jobs are created and working conditions improve, but for whom?? It is for the educated masses and the literate people and not for the laborers. Laborers suffer in the form of; forced overtime, exhausting work schedules; poverty pay, and unhealthy working conditions. The majority of workers in the Sez units are women who are exposed to the most humiliating sexual harassments. Free trade creates a “race to the bottom”, whereby developing countries lower their labor charges and environmental standards in an effort to attract foreign investment.

Secondly Companies would like to simply relocate to SEZ to take advantage of the tax concession’s being offered. This will bring about a significant revenue loss to the government. This will result in a kind of ‘disguised industry’ just as ‘disguised unemployment’.

And thirdly to set up an SEZ, large scale acquisition of land takes place which results in displacement of farmers and alternate means of livelihood are not available for them. But this issue has been taken up by the govt, and they will work out an appropriate compensation package before taking away land.

There is a possibility that Sez’s will be set up is states where there is already a strong tradition of manufacturing and exports. This in turn can aggravate regional disparities.

I hope this information will be useful to you, if there is anything else you need, do contact me.