In recent years a number of host governments have declared their intention to liberalize their industrial policies toward transnational corporations (TNCs). Taking India as an example. economic liberalization is defined here as an industrial policy implementation issue, and is studied with reference to licensing procedures between 1984 and 1990. Liberalization is effected through a Government-TNC network. The four dimensions used to measure the results of liberalization show that this network has remained more or less intact during the period, so that it is still time- and resource-consuming to obtain licences. A study of changes in the number of controls and the efficiency of the executive bodies also indicates that policies towards TNCs have been only partially liberalized. This result is explained by an institutional organization theory.