Keshab Das

This book investigates the less-explored dimensions of how industries in different Indian subnational spaces or states have responded to the growing phenomenon of internationalization. What factors have influenced firms participating in global business? Have state (both central and provincial) policies acted as catalyst for local firms? Not only does this study delve into these issues; it also painstakingly develops a comprehensive database that remains unique in the absence of reliable official statistics on this subject to date. Efforts have been made to establish a reasonably consistent dataset for the period 1990-2008 derived from the CMIE-PROWESS database. Care has been taken to condense the data and classify it by sector, location, size and ownership. The study delineates export patterns by firm and state and explores factors influencing export decisions according to sector, size and location. A further interesting aspect is the book’s critical examination of industrial and trade promotion policies at the state/regional level that might have contributed to or hindered exporting by firms. The states considered for detailed policy discussions are highly diverse and include Gujarat, Odisha and Karnataka. To address the glaring absence of literature on the role of subnational factors in enterprises’ export performance, a preliminary state-by-state analysis of the spatial determinants of firms’ export activities is also provided.