industrial estates were established at Masat(1978), Khadoli(1982) and Silvassa (1985). Earlier (before 1965) only traditional craftsmen who made clay pots, leather items, viz., chappals, shoes and some other items of bamboo were present. Since there was no sales tax in the UT, it attracted many entrepreneurs. Around 30 new units comprising Engineering, fabric weaving units and dyeing and printing units were established till 1970.
In 1971, UT was declared as industrially backward area by Government of India and increased the cash subsidy to 15 to 25% for the industrial units on their capital investment which resulted in the speedy industrial development. The scheme was however terminated from 30 September 1988. Sales Tax Act was implemented from January 1984 till 1998 under which industries enjoyed sales tax exemption for 15 years from the start-up date. VAT was introduced in 2005. At present the newly established units get Central Sales Tax exemption which will continue till 2017.
There are more than 2710 units functioning providing employment to about 46000 people with a capital investment of 37,783.10 crore (US$6.88 billion)
