Gujarat - A profile

This article provides a profile of Gujarat, India for those exploring the possibility of living and working there. The information presented has been gathered from open sources and is not exhaustive or meant to supplement or substitute legal and professional advice.

Key facts

• State capital: Gandhinagar¹
• Land area: 196,024 sq km²
• Population: 63,907,200³
• Chief minister: Bhupendrabhai Patel⁴
• Official language: Gujarati⁵
• Other languages: English, Hindi, other Indian languages⁶
• GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product): US$259.25 billion⁷
• Major cities: Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Junagadh⁸

Introduction

Gujarat is located on the western coast of India and has the longest coastline of 1,600 km among all the states in the country. It is bounded by Pakistan to the northwest and by the Indian states of Rajasthan to the north, Madhya Pradesh to the east and Maharashtra to the southeast. While Gandhinagar is the capital city, Ahmedabad is the largest city in the state and one of the most important textile centres in India.⁹

Economy profile

Gujarat is one of the states in India that has a high economic growth and industrial development. The average annual Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) growth rate between the 2015-16 and 2020-21 period was about 12.87 percent. The state’s GSDP grew at a CAGR of 12.87 percent during 2015-16 to 2020-21 and its per capita GSDP increased at a CAGR of 14.38 percent between 2015-16 and 2020-21.¹⁰ Gujarat’s GSDP is estimated to be US$ 259.25 billion in FY22, with a year-on-year increase of seven percent. ¹¹

In the 2018-19 period, the secondary sector contributed 45.29 percent to Gujarat’s GSDP followed by the tertiary (35.63 percent) and primary (19.08 percent) sectors. At a CAGR of 15.02 percent, the secondary sector was the fastest growing sector between 2011-12 and 2018-19. Growth in the sector is attributed to the manufacturing, construction, and the electricity, gas and water supply industries. The tertiary sector increased at a CAGR of 12.70 per cent between 2011-12 and 2018-19 with its growth driven by trade, hotels, real estate, finance, insurance, transport, communications and other services sectors.¹²

As of September 2020, Gujarat had 21 operational Special economic zones (SEZs).¹³ SEZs in India are areas that offer incentives to resident businesses. They typically offer competitive infrastructure, duty free exports, tax incentives, and other measures designed to make it easier to conduct business.¹⁴

Industries

Gujarat is considered a leader in several industrial sectors including chemicals, petrochemicals, dairy, drugs and pharmaceuticals, cement and ceramics, gems and jewellery, and textiles and engineering. Over 800 large industries and over 400,000 micro, small and medium enterprises comprise the industrial sector. Gujarat is hailed as the petroleum capital of India with the state producing 4.6 million tonnes of crude petroleum and 1,287 million cubic metres of natural gas in in 2019-20. Furthermore, the export of Gujarat’s petroleum products reached US$ 7,180.92 million in FY21.¹⁵

Gujarat has a developed pharmaceutical sector with over 3,300 pharmaceutical manufacturing units, which contributed around 30 percent to India’s total pharma sector turnover and around 28 percent to India’s pharma export during 2018-19. It is reported that Gujarat’s export of drug formulations reached US$ 3,053.53 million in 2019-20 and US$ 2,789.92 million in FY21.¹⁶

Gujarat is reported to be world’s largest producer of processed diamonds, accounting for 72 percent of the world’s processed diamond share and 80 percent of India’s diamond exports. Gujarat’s production of denim contributes 65 to 70 percent of India’s total denim production, making it the largest manufacturer of denim in the country and the third largest in the world.¹⁷

Foreign Trade & Investment

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry reported that in FY21, Gujarat received the highest foreign direct investment at US$ 21.89 billion, standing in the forefront of all the Indian states, with 30 percent of the total equity inflows. The Department also revealed that the total exports from Gujarat stood at US$ 63,440 million in 2019-20 and US$ 60,587 million in 2020-21.¹⁸

Tourism

Stretching into the Arabian Sea, Gujarat is renowned for its beaches, temple towns, palaces and historic capitals. Wildlife sanctuaries, hill resorts and natural grandeur add to its beauty. The state’s major attractions include the only habitat of the Asiatic lions in India (Gir Forests), the Wild Ass Sanctuary and the Indo-Saracenic architecture of Ahmedabad. The colourful tribal villages of Kutch are also popular tourist destinations. Gujarat’s vast coastline is home to unique marine species and its varied geographical locations are said to make it a melting pot of culture, people, places and history.¹⁹

Singapore and Gujarat

International Enterprise (IE) Singapore (now known as Enterprise Singapore) signed MoUs with the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) and Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) in January 2017 to help Singapore companies expand into the market. The purpose of the partnership was to facilitate business collaboration for Singapore companies in manufacturing, logistics services and port technologies. Singapore companies that have a presence in Gujarat include DBS, Sembcorp Green Infra, Singapore International Arbitration Centre and Tong Garden.²⁰

References