“Most of the workers come from landless families, have been unemployed for some years and live within a radius of 4 km from the SEZ. Just getting a job is a big morale-booster for their self-esteem and transforming their families’ outlook for the future. Employment numbers alone can’t capture this,” Pillai says.

Similarly, at the 1,000-acre Brandix Textile SEZ in Visakhapatnam district, set up through a $150-million investment from Sri Lankan textile major Brandix, nearly 19% of the employees undergoing training are from Scheduled Castes and over 60% are OBCs.

Brandix is expected to hire 30,000 employees by next year and over 60,000 employees by 2009 as per its Memorandum of Understanding with the state government.

“The key is to attract investment into backward areas, where a large proportion of the population belongs to Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes. It’s the locals who will get most jobs, not people from the cities,” says Pillai, who expects this trend to have an even more dramatic impact when the multi-product and IT SEZs start operations. About 100,000 new jobs are likely to be created in SEZs by June 2007.

Not just jobs, workers are also picking new skill sets that could set the stage for future entrepreneurial ventures. For example, at the 127-acre Apache Footwear SEZ set up by Adidas in Nellore, athletic shoes would be made for the first time in India. “This skill will be learnt by the Indian workers in the SEZ. With the experience, workers would be in a position set up a unit on their own or as a co-operative in the future,” the Commerce Secretary said.