SEZs can't be magically more successful than EPZs. They are guilty of three big errors. They forget that historically, market forces alone have never produced real development or balanced growth. Typically, state intervention, including protection of nascent industry, is necessary to spur growth, push investment into capital-poor areas, and discipline capital. The first theorem of development economics established by Amartya Sen is that growth alone cannot abolish mass-scale poverty and deprivation.
Public action is indispensable.
Second, there are no pathways to rapid growth which bypass the vast majority and concentrate on small enclaves or social groups. It cannot promote healthy growth. On this, the evidence is overwhelming. Chemicalised junk food has deforested the Amazon basin, and degraded public taste and quality of nutrition. In Japan, it miniaturised the hamburger to make it resemble highly-valued sushi.