Socioeconomic Effects of Land Use Change for Industrialization: Evidence-Informed Learnings from Sri City India

Abstract

This study examines the socioeconomic impacts of large-scale land conversion from agriculture to industry on affected households, focusing on Sri City, an industrial hub in South India established under the SEZ Act 2005. Data from 250 households in and around Sri City were collected on socioeconomic indicators aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals using a structured survey method. Quasi-experimental methods, specifically nearest neighbor matching based on the Mahalanobis distance model, were employed for analysis. The findings indicate that affected households experience benefits, but these are not unequivocal. The study underscores the importance of project-specific factors, land acquisition strategies, and approaches to business leadership in shaping the socially sustainable outcomes of land conversion, from agriculture to industry.