After the economic reforms in 1991, vast tracts of agricultural land have been acquired by the various state governments for the development of Special economic Zones (SEZs) and Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Regions (PCPIRs).This is the consequence of export promotion based industrial development vigorously followed by the Indian government in the post globalization era. Globalization and liberalization of the Indian economy has led to the emergence of many growth opportunities and expanded the developmental role of the state governments enormously. In this neoliberal economy many Indian states have started promoting industrial and infrastructure development through appropriate policy changes including fiscal incentives, minimal regulations and other promotional measures. PCPIR policy 2007 which approved four PCPIRs in India aimed at developing industrial clusters in the petroleum, chemical and petrochemical sectors of the country. After a decade, only Dahej PCPIR in Gujarat has succeeded in achieving the distinction of being fastest growing industrial cluster in terms of employment generation, investment and exports as compared to other three PCPIRs namely Visakhapatnam–Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh), Paradeep (Odisha) and Cuddalore & Nagapattinam( Tamil Nadu). In this backdrop present paper seeks to analyze basic features of PCPIR policy, current status of Visakhapatnam–Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh), Dahej (Gujarat), Paradeep (Odisha) and Cuddalore and Nagapattinam (Tamil Nadu) PCPIR in India  including details of infrastructural support and benefits of establishing  these PCPIRs in terms of  investment, employment generation and exports. The paper further discusses certain key drivers for success of Dahej PCPIR and various bottlenecks that led to the slow or negligible growth of unsuccessful PCPIRs. In the final section some key revisions proposed by the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers for the future success of non-performing PCPIRs and recommendations of ‘PCPIR Rejuvenation Study’ jointly prepared by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and knowledge partner Mott MacDonald has been discussed.

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Keywords: PCPIRs, SEZs, Infrastructure Development, Exports, Investment, Employment Generation.