AUSAF AHMAD Regional Pattern of Industrial Licensing THIS study has been taken up on the assumption that in India, administered under a parliamentary system as a union of states with a sufficiently strong centre, the major national policies and the instruments of their implementation determine, to a large extent, the pace and tempo of regional development. Hence, it is necessary to work out the regional dimensions of major economic policies and to see how these policies affect the economies of different regions. Industrial licensing is one of the principal means for the implementation of industrial policy in our country. Even during the national struggle for independence it was decided that the national government will assume the responsibility of directing and controlling the process of economic development in independent India. After independence, the Government of India, through the Industrial Policy Resolution 1948, envisaged for itself a role of greater participation in economic life. Subsequently, in 1951, the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act was enforced, through which even a greater degree of control was sought. According to the provisions of this Act, all the existing industrial undertakings were to be registered with the government within a specified period, and no new industrial unit was to be established, nor any substantial expansion to be effected, without obtaining a prior licence from the government for that