After liberalization and Globalization of the Indian economy in 1991new economic policy based on industrialization was followed vigorously in India which shifted the onus of economic development on its constituent states whose roles expanded enormously in promoting economic development. Over the past few decades in general and after SEZ Act 2005 in particular vast tracts of agricultural and forest land have been expropriated by various state governments in the name of SEZs which was conceived as an engine of economic growth supported by wide range of fiscal and other incentives both at the centre and the state level. Inevitable consequence of these land expropriations is dispossession and displacement of farmers, tribes and other marginalized groups who were robbed of their basic social security – land, in the absence of adequate social security measures. In the context of this neo liberal development agenda present paper seeks to analyze the prevailing rationale behind state- led coercive land expropriation and its transfer to private capitalists for development of SEZs in the name of ‘public purpose’ and its exclusionist nature keeping in view Harvey’s formulation of accumulation by dispossession .The paper further attempts to develop a critique of the way ‘non processing area’ within SEZs is being used by real estate developers.

KEYWORDS: Land Acquisition, Dispossession, Development, Industrialization, SEZs, Neoliberal Policy.