The Basics
Gujarat at a Glance
Gujarat is India's westernmost state, on the Arabian Sea. It has the country's longest coastline and a long history of trade and industry.
- Gandhinagar Capital city (Ahmedabad is the largest city & economic hub)
- 1 May 1960 Formed (split from Bombay State) — celebrated as Gujarat Day
- 1.96 lakh km² Area (~1,96,024 km²) — India's 5th-largest state
- ~2,340 km Coastline — the longest of any Indian state
- 33 Districts (250 talukas) — see the interactive map above
- Gujarati Official language (Hindi & English widely used)
- 182 seats Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) — 26 Lok Sabha seats
- Borders Rajasthan, MP & Maharashtra; Pakistan to the north-west; the Arabian Sea to the west
- 3 regions Kutch, the Saurashtra peninsula & the mainland; rivers Narmada, Tapi, Sabarmati & Mahi
- Dry state Alcohol prohibition since 1960 — one of the few states in India
- State symbols Animal: Asiatic lion · Bird: greater flamingo · Tree: banyan · Flower: marigold
People
Population & Society
Census 2011 is the last full count; a fresh census is pending, so current totals are projections. Figures below are Census 2011 unless marked.
- 6.04 cr Population, 2011 (60,439,692) — ~7 crore today (projected)
- 19.3% Decadal growth, 2001–2011
- 308 /km² Population density, 2011
- 919 Sex ratio — females per 1,000 males, 2011
- 78.0% Literacy rate, 2011 (above the national average)
- 42.6% Urbanisation — one of India's most urbanised large states
- ~5% of India's people live here — yet the state produces ~8% of national output
- 4 cities Million-plus cities — Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara & Rajkot
- Diaspora One of India's largest global communities — Gujarati business & migrant networks worldwide
Economy
A ₹33-Lakh-Crore Economy
Gujarat has about 5% of India's people but produces close to 8% of its output and a third of its exports. Industry, ports and a business-friendly climate drive it.
- ₹33.2 L cr GSDP 2026-27 (projected, current prices); ₹29.8 L cr in 2025-26 (RE)
- ~11% Nominal GSDP growth, 2026-27 over 2025-26 (RE)
- ₹3.71 lakh Per-capita GSDP, 2024-25 — well above the national average
- ~15% Outstanding public debt as % of GSDP (2026-27) — among the lowest of large states
What the economy is made of — share of GSDP (2024-25)
- ~47% Industry — the highest industrial output of any Indian state
- ~36% Services — trade, finance, transport & logistics
- ~17% Agriculture & allied — cotton, groundnut, dairy
Minerals & resources
- ~75% of India's salt is produced here — the country's salt capital (Kutch)
- Oil & gas A major onshore producer of crude oil & natural gas (Cambay basin)
- Lignite India's 2nd-largest lignite producer (GMDC) — Kutch, Bhavnagar, Bharuch & Surat
- Fluorspar India's top producer of fluorspar & silica sand; also bauxite, fuller's earth & agate
- Export leader: Gujarat accounts for roughly 30%+ of India's merchandise exports — the most of any state — helped by its ports and refining/chemical complexes.
- Figures here are the latest Gujarat Budget estimates (2026-27 projected, 2025-26 revised). The India GDP page compares all states at FY2024-25, so its Gujarat figure is for that earlier year.
Agriculture
Agriculture & Farming
Gujarat is one of India's strongest farming states. It is the world's top producer of castor and several spices, the home of Amul, and a leader in cotton, groundnut and horticulture.
- Cotton India's largest cotton producer — grown across Saurashtra & central Gujarat
- Groundnut India's largest groundnut producer
- World No. 1 The world's largest producer of castor, cumin, fennel & psyllium (isabgol) — traded at the famed Unjha market
- Amul & Banas Amul (Anand) sparked India's White Revolution; Banas Dairy is Asia's largest milk co-operative
- Gir Kesar The GI-tagged "queen of mangoes" from Junagadh & Amreli
- Sugarcane & bananas South Gujarat's belt — Bardoli's famed sugar co-ops; also a major banana grower
- Tobacco The Charotar region (Anand–Kheda) is a leading tobacco belt
- Dates & dragon fruit Kutch is India's date hub and a fast-growing dragon-fruit (Kamalam) region
- Farm boom Check dams, drip irrigation, the Narmada canal & 24×7 rural power (Jyotigram) drove rapid farm growth
Administrative
The 33 Districts
Gujarat had 26 districts at the 2011 Census; the count has since risen to 33. Select a district below to highlight it on the map above. District pages are coming next.
The map and this list share the same data. Clicking a district highlights it on the interactive map in the hero; soon each will open its own page.
What Makes Gujarat Unique
Strengths, Industry & Heritage
A few of the things Gujarat is known for, from the world's largest oil refinery to the world's tallest statue and the last Asiatic lions.
Industry & trade
- Surat Where ~90% of the world's diamonds are cut & polished — the global diamond capital
- Hazira Major coastal industrial belt at Surat — steel, petrochemicals, gas & heavy engineering
- Jamnagar World's largest oil-refining complex (Reliance)
- Mundra India's largest commercial port; with Kandla, a major trade gateway
- Morbi Ceramics & tiles hub — bulk of India's output
- Sanand Automobile cluster — Tata, MG, Maruti Suzuki ("Detroit of India")
- Amul · Anand Dairy cooperative that powered India's White Revolution
Heritage, nature & culture
- 182 m Statue of Unity (Kevadia) — the world's tallest statue
- Gir The only wild home of the Asiatic lion on Earth
- Rann of Kutch The white salt desert & the Rann Utsav festival
- Dholavira Harappan-era city — a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2021)
- Wild ass The Little Rann of Kutch is the only home of the Indian wild ass on Earth
- Birds & blackbuck Flamingos at Nalsarovar & Thol (Ramsar wetlands) and blackbuck at Velavadar
Culture & Traditions
Festivals, Food & Crafts
Gujarat's culture is lived loudly: nine nights of Garba, skies full of kites, a much-loved vegetarian thali, and some of India's finest handloom and textile crafts.
- Garba & Dandiya Navratri's nine nights of folk dance — on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list (2023)
- Uttarayan The International Kite Festival fills the skies every 14 January
- Gujarati thali A largely vegetarian table — dhokla, khaman, thepla, fafda-jalebi & undhiyu
- Patola Patan's prized double-ikat silk, hand-woven for centuries
- Bandhani Tie-dye textiles and Kutch's intricate mirror-work embroidery
- Ajrakh Kutch's natural-dye hand block printing, a centuries-old craft
- Dhollywood Gujarati cinema since 1932 — its film Hellaro won the National Award for Best Feature Film
Places to Visit
Faith, Heritage & Getaways
Gujarat has plenty to see, from Jyotirlinga shrines and Char Dham pilgrimage to UNESCO stepwells and a forest hill station.
- Somnath First of the 12 Jyotirlinga shrines of Shiva, on the Saurashtra coast
- Dwarka One of the Char Dham pilgrimage sites; Krishna's legendary kingdom
- Rani ki Vav UNESCO stepwell at Patan — featured on the ₹100 note
- Modhera The 11th-century Sun Temple
- Champaner-Pavagadh UNESCO archaeological park & hill shrine
- Saputara Gujarat's only hill station, in the Dang forests
- Ahmedabad India's first UNESCO World Heritage City (2017)
- Sabarmati Ashram Mahatma Gandhi's riverside ashram in Ahmedabad — a heart of the freedom struggle
- Swaminarayan Mandir The grand Akshardham (BAPS) Swaminarayan temple complex in Gandhinagar
- Sarangpur Kashtabhanjan Dev Hanuman temple at Sarangpur, Botad — a major pilgrimage site
- Lothal A 4,500-year-old Indus Valley port with the world's oldest known dock; home of the new National Maritime Heritage Complex
- Dumas Beach A popular black-sand beach on the Arabian Sea in Surat
- Atal Bridge A ~300 m pedestrian bridge on Ahmedabad's Sabarmati Riverfront (2022), now a favourite city spot
- Laxmi Vilas Palace Vadodara's grand Gaekwad royal palace — reportedly the largest private residence in India
- MSU Baroda The Maharaja Sayajirao University in Vadodara — among India's largest, famed for its Faculty of Fine Arts
Modern Gujarat
Finance, Energy & Infrastructure
Beyond its older industries, Gujarat is building India's financial hub, the world's largest clean-energy park and some of its busiest trade gateways.
- GIFT City India's first operational smart city & International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), near Gandhinagar
- Dholera India's first greenfield smart city (DMIC) — home to India's first semiconductor fab and an ultra-mega solar park
- 30 GW Khavda (Kutch) solar + wind park — set to be the world's largest renewable-energy park
- ~30% of India's sea cargo moves through Gujarat's ports; Mundra is India's busiest
- Sardar Sarovar One of India's largest dams, on the Narmada — the Statue of Unity stands beside it
- 1,32,000 Narendra Modi Stadium (Motera) — the world's largest cricket stadium
- Vibrant Gujarat Flagship global investment summit, held biennially since 2003
- IIM-A · NID Premier institutions — IIM Ahmedabad, NID, IIT Gandhinagar & the world's first Forensic Sciences University
- Sabarmati Riverfront Ahmedabad's ~11 km riverfront — a landmark urban-renewal project
Rail, Metro & Air
Trains, Metro, Airports & Transit
Gujarat has been a rail pioneer since the 1860s. Today it has India's first bullet train, an award-winning bus rapid transit system, growing metros, fast expressways and busy airports.
- Bullet train India's first — the Mumbai–Ahmedabad high-speed line (508 km); 8 of its 12 stations are in Gujarat
- Ahmedabad Metro ~68 km and 50+ stations across two phases
- Surat Metro ~40 km on two corridors, under construction
- Janmarg BRTS India's first full bus rapid transit — winner of the 2010 Sustainable Transport Award
- Gandhinagar A redeveloped Capital station with a five-star hotel built above the platforms
- Vande Bharat Semi-high-speed trains link Gujarat's cities — including an early Gandhinagar–Mumbai route
- Freight corridor The Western Dedicated Freight Corridor runs through Gujarat toward northern India
- RoPax ferry The Ghogha–Hazira Ro-Pax ferry across the Gulf of Khambhat links Saurashtra to Surat — a ~360 km road trip becomes a ~90 km sea crossing
- Expressways The Ahmedabad–Vadodara Expressway (one of India's earliest), the new Ahmedabad–Dholera Expressway (NH-751), and the Delhi–Mumbai Expressway (India's longest)
- National Highways NH 48 (the Delhi–Mumbai spine via Ahmedabad, Vadodara & Surat), plus NH 27, NH 47 & NH 64 — 13 national highways span ~3,245 km
- Airports Ahmedabad (Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International) is the busiest — with Surat, Vadodara & Rajkot's new Hirasar airports, and a greenfield airport rising at Dholera
People & Freedom Movement
A Land of National Icons
Gujarat has helped shape modern India, from the freedom struggle to its business and political leadership.
- 1930 Gandhi's Dandi Salt March began here, igniting the civil-disobedience movement
- Mahatma Gandhi Born in Porbandar; led India's freedom struggle from the Sabarmati Ashram
- Sardar Patel The "Iron Man" who united 500+ princely states into one India
- Narendra Modi Prime Minister of India and Gujarat's long-serving former Chief Minister (2001–2014)
- Vikram Sarabhai Ahmedabad-born father of India's space programme; founder of ISRO
- Jamsetji Tata Born in Navsari — founder of the Tata Group, the bedrock of modern Indian industry
- Dhirubhai Ambani Gujarat-born founder of Reliance — one of India's largest companies
- More Mukesh Ambani & Gautam Adani (Reliance & the Adani Group) — among Asia's wealthiest — and Azim Premji of Wipro (family from Kutch), all with Gujarati roots
Through the Ages
A Short History of Gujarat
From Harappan ports on the Arabian Sea to a modern state, a few of the milestones that shaped Gujarat.
| When | Milestone |
|---|---|
| ~2400 BCE | Harappan cities — Lothal & Dholavira flourish, with the world's oldest known dock at Lothal |
| 941–1244 CE | The Solanki (Chaulukya) golden age — Patan the capital; Rani ki Vav & the Modhera Sun Temple built |
| 1411 | Ahmedabad founded by Sultan Ahmad Shah I |
| 1407–1573 | The independent Gujarat Sultanate |
| 1573 | Annexed by the Mughal Empire under Akbar; later Maratha rule |
| 1818 | British rule — part of the Bombay Presidency |
| 1860s | Gujarat's first railways — the Bombay, Baroda & Central India Railway (Ankleshwar–Utran); the line reaches Ahmedabad in 1864 |
| 1869 | Mahatma Gandhi born in Porbandar |
| 1930 | Gandhi's Dandi Salt March begins from Sabarmati |
| 1 May 1960 | Modern Gujarat is created from the bilingual Bombay State |
| 2001 | The devastating Bhuj earthquake (26 January) |
| 2017 | Ahmedabad named India's first UNESCO World Heritage City |